Roots
by pinkturtle55
Summary: Six teenagers walked into the woods. Six teenagers who knew nothing about life, nothing about each other, and nothing about the world they lived in. Six teenagers walked into the woods and their lives changed forever. AU. Teenfic.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, it's been awhile, but here is another Criminal Minds fanfic! It's AU and a teenfic as stated in the summary. I hope you enjoy and I would love to hear what you think!**

Leaves crinkled under their feet and the cool wind swept Emily's hair across her shoulder. The stars were barely visible between the trees and an animal scurried in front of them.

"Do you even know where we're going?" She looked up to Aaron.

He put his arm around her shoulders, "What, you scared?"

"Don't even start," she shrugged away from his touch.

"I'm just kidding, Emily! I know where we're going, look, we're almost here." He brought her close to him again, "the view will be worth it."

Emily smiled and leaned close to him. "I'm freezing my ass off, it better be worth it."

"Here," Aaron stopped, he took off his jacket and put it around her shoulders.

XXX

Morgan looked at his phone and saw the time, "Dammit," he hissed. He was late. Again. He stuffed his hands in his letter jacket and stared at the ground as he hurried through the woods. What was he going to say this time? Branches whipped his face as he started to jog. The path was familiar, and he knew he wasn't too far.

He couldn't help but grin. His heart was racing. He picked up his speed.

XXX

JJ wiped the tears off her cheek again. She stopped to catch her breath, she had to remind herself to breathe. It was too hard. She couldn't get enough air, she was suffocating. She had to get away. A new batch of tears came and she started to run.

She couldn't stay there anymore. It was too terrible. The silence, the emptiness. The fact that everyone pretended not to know what day it was. If she got far enough in the woods she could breath. Maybe she could escape all of it. Maybe it would all be okay.

But that was a joke, and she knew it. No matter how far she ran, she could never escape. But that didn't stop her. She continued into the woods.

She would have been 25 today.

JJ's footsteps continued on the hard dirt. She gasped for breath.

But instead she was dead.

XXX

Reid shuffled his feet. It was cold. He looked up and saw the moon in the gap of trees. He sat down on a tree stump, and then stood up again. He wiped off the seat of his pants, he wanted everything to be perfect tonight. He ran his fingers through his hair for the upteenth time that night and took in a deep breath.

Soon, he told himself. But he couldn't wait. The sounds of the woods surrounded him. Crickets sounded, and small animals scurried about. He loved the sounds. Or maybe he just loved what came with the woods.

XXX

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." Garcia's face was burning red. She slammed the front door when she left, she wanted them to feel her anger.

She muttered under her breath and slammed her feet to the ground with each step. She had so much rage. It was consuming her. She couldn't hold it anymore. She hurried into the woods, she picked up a rock and threw it.

It wasn't enough.

She needed to do something. She continued into the woods. "I fucking hate you!" She screamed to the sky.

But nobody heard her. Nobody ever heard her.

XXX

"Did you hear that?" Emily asked.

"Hear what?"

Emily stopped walking, "listen," she said.

The night sounds continued, a gust of air rustled the trees.

"You're just being paranoid Emily, it's right up there," he pointed up the trail, "tonight's going to be perfect. Just you, me, and this amazing view."

They continued to walk down the trail. "I heard something," Emily whispered to herself.

XXX

Morgan ran into the opening, "sorry I'm late," he blurted out immediately. But he didn't see the usual small shape. "Hey," he called out, "you here?" He walked around the area, his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, but it was still hard to make out some things.

"Look, I'm sorry I'm late, okay? I'll make it up to you," the teasing was evident in his voice. "Come on, don't leave a guy waiting, I've been waiting for weeks, ain't that long enough?" But still there was no response.

Maybe they were running late too, he thought. But he knew that wasn't the case. He was the late one in their relationship. He started to run, scouring the area. Something was wrong.

Something was really wrong.

XXX

JJ didn't know where she was anymore. It was so dark, only the light of the moon was there. She stopped to catch her breath. The fresh, cool air filled her lungs. She could finally breathe. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and wiped her cheeks again.

She walked again, looking up at the sky. Her sister had loved the stars. They used to sit out in the backyard together and stare at them. Sometimes they came into these woods and stayed there until they could hear their dad shouting for them to come in.

But they always stayed close. Far enough to get away from the lights, but just close enough to get back home.

She looked down from the sky and let out a blood curdling scream.

XXX

The woods rustled behind him. but they didn't sound like an animal. It was bigger. "Hey, you here?" He smiled.

But there was no response. Reid looked around, but it was too dark to see into the woods. He was probably just being messed with.

"Just come out, okay? I thought tonight was supposed to be romantic." He almost whined. But no one came out of the woods.

He let out a sigh. He fixed his hair one more time and walked into the woods.

XXX

She felt better. Not great, but better. She could finally think again. The fresh air helped. Garcia ran through the night. It started out okay, but that's how it usually went. Everything was fine, until, well, it wasn't.

She just needed to be alone. They all did. She didn't want to face them again that night. She didn't want another screaming match. She shook her head and started to hum. Just a slow quiet tune. Something to get her mind off things.

Suddenly she heard something behind her and spun around. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

XXX

Emily started to run, "you hear that now?" She shouted behind her.

"Slow down, Em, I'm coming!" Hotch shouted behind her. They sprinted through the woods, following the sound. When Aaron caught up to her he grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"Maybe we should get out of here," he said.

"You're kidding, right?" Emily ripped out of his grip. Another sound came from the woods. "You do what you want, but I'm going."

She started to run, and Aaron followed. Dread filled him. Something was wrong. Something was really wrong.

He had to make sure she stayed safe.

Emily slowed, listening again. She heard noises to her right. She ran through the trees, suddenly she was in an opening of sorts. All she saw was a dark outline before she slammed to the ground.


	2. Chapter 2- Aaron

**Hey guys- Happy April! Thanks for reading and for all of the favorites, follows, and reviews! I love hearing what you guys think :) **

**Just a quick explanation for the rest of the story. Since this fic involves six main characters, each chapter is going to focus on a different character. They will vary in length, some being a little shorter (like this one) and some being a little longer. **

**I hope you guys enjoy, and as always, I would love to hear what you think! **

The night seemed darker somehow– more ominous. But that made no sense, because the sky was lit up with flashing red and blue lights. There were too many people to count walking in and out of the woods. Uniformed officers lined the trees, unaware of what was happening within.

Aaron looked around. Garcia was still crying and JJ had not spoken yet. He brought his arm around Emily and pulled her close. She was shivering, so was everyone else. He needed to do something– needed to take control.

"Is everyone okay?" Aaron asked, although he knew the obvious answer.

"Yeah," Morgan grunted. Reid nodded next to him.

Garcia answered with a sniffle and JJ just stared at the ground.

Emily leaned closer to him, "who would do something like that," she whispered.

But nobody answered. There was no answer. They all just stared, waiting. Aaron took in a deep breath, he wanted to do something to help them, but what could he do? They had all just seen something... something he couldn't even describe. Thinking about it hurt him, but he needed to keep a straight face, he needed to be strong for them.

"How much longer are we gonna have to wait?" Morgan asked, shifting from foot to foot.

"The police are probably busy, you know, dealing with... that," Emily bit, glancing at the woods, and then back.

"All I'm saying is I've been freezing my ass off in the woods, where they told us to stand a half hour ago. I've got stuff going on."

"Really?" Emily mocked, "because this is exactly what I had planned for my Friday night."

Morgan opened his mouth to answer, but Aaron stopped him, "guys, I know we're all tired and we've been through a lot tonight, but let's just try to stay calm. The police will talk to us soon and then we can go home."

Everyone was silent again. Radios echoed and squad cars came and left. Finally a woman walked up to them. She was wearing a pantsuit and a pair of dark tennis shoes.

"I'm Detective Morris," she introduced herself, "sorry for keeping you waiting."

"It's alright," Hotch said.

"Okay," The detective started, "I want to go over what happened. You guys were all in the woods together?"

"We were in the woods, but not together. Well at least not all of us," Aaron answered.

"Okay... can someone explain what happened?"

Everyone looked at Garcia, who wiped her eyes, "I guess I'll start..." her voice was shaking, "I was walking down the path and then JJ ran out of the woods. She was covered in blood... she wouldn't stop screaming. I had no idea what had happened."

"What were you doing in the woods alone?" Detective Morris asked.

Garcia looked down, "I got in a fight with my parents. I guess I was blowing off some steam."

"Okay," she looked around, "does anyone else know what happened?"

"Well," Reid started, "I was in the woods. I heard something and thought it was... someone. I went to go look and I found JJ and Garcia."

"Yeah, same for me," Morgan said, looking away from everyone.

Before the detective asked again, Emily started talking, "Aaron and I were walking down the trail and we heard someone scream. We ran through the woods and found everyone else."

"We tried to get JJ to talk," Aaron added, "but then she was hyperventilating. I figured out the blood wasn't hers, so we were trying to figure out where it came from. She still wouldn't say anything, but she brought us through the woods... then we found... her."

Garcia started to cry again and Emily shrugged out of Aaron's arm and walked over to her. Aaron watched as she leaned close to her and started to talk. He couldn't hear what she said, but soon Garcia was just sniffling again.

Aaron looked over at JJ again. She was staring at her red stained hands. Her eyes were blank and she was unmoving.

The detective looked around at them, "you guys should go home now. It's been a long night," she glanced at JJ, "does anyone have her parents number?"

JJ continued to stare at her hands, "no," she whispered.

"What?" Aaron leaned closer.

"No." She said nothing else, just no.

"I can drive her home," Aaron offered. I'm parked right down the street.

Detective Morris thought for a moment, then sighed, "alright. Just make sure you talk to your parents and they know you are okay."

"Will do," Aaron said, and then the detective left.

Despite the detective's dismissal of them, nobody moved. "Should we go now? JJ, I can take you home."

"No," she whispered again.

Then Emily spoke up, "my mother is out of town. You can come over if you want. You all can," she looked around, "you know, if you don't want to go home."


	3. Chapter 3- JJ

**Hey guys! Once again, thank you for all of the reviews and alerts, I always love hearing what you guys think :) I hope you have a great weekend and enjoy the chapter!**

It was hard to think. She remembered getting in the car, but everything was such a blur. People spoke to her, but it was as if she couldn't hear them. She just knew she couldn't go home.

JJ stared out the car window. She could still see the woods from where they were. Their town was surrounded by it– there was no escaping.

It was easier to think of nothing than remember what she had seen. When the car stopped she stayed where she was until the door opened. Aaron stood there and offered his hand. She looked at it, sighed, and let him help her out. She dropped her hand as soon as she was standing. She didn't look around, just followed the others into a house.

"Feel free to do whatever," Emily said to them, "just stay out of my mother's office and the dining room. You know, don't touch anything old looking."

JJ stood there, but suddenly it took too much work. She took a few steps and then sat on the hardwood floor just outside of the living room. She leaned against the wall and brought her knees to her chest. Morgan and Hotch tried to talk to her, but she couldn't open her mouth. She was afraid she might scream again.

But she could hear them now, she wasn't in as much of a daze. She just listened.

"You think she's okay?" Morgan asked Aaron.

"She's probably in shock or something," he responded, "after what she saw..."

JJ tried to tune them out. She didn't want to listen to them talk about her. Instead she listened to Garcia, Reid, and Emily. They were sitting by the fire Emily had turned on moments ago.

"You okay Penelope?" Emily asked.

"I just want to forget I saw that!" Garcia exclaimed, "I can't believe... oh God."

"Wanting to forget something more often than not causes you to just think about it more," Reid said, "the best way to forget something is to focus on other stimuli. And if that doesn't work, some claim hypnosis does, although I'm not convinced."

"Fine, then give me other stimuli to focus on!"

Reid blushed, "I don't know... you could do a puzzle or math problems."

"No puzzles, sorry," Emily said, "but we could turn the tv on or something."

"That could work," Reid said, "as long as the show doesn't trigger memories of, you know."

"Romantic comedy it is," Emily said, turning on the tv and started flipping channels.

JJ turned away and looked around the room. There were paintings on the walls, but no pictures of Emily. JJ thought back to her own house. It had once been filled with pictures of her and her sister. Until JJ was 11, then they all came down. That's how her parents coped, by pretending Rosaline never existed.

JJ didn't cope.

She thought of her every day. When JJ turned 17, all she could think of was what had happened when Rosaline was 17. She didn't have a party. Her parents never wished her happy birthday. They loved her, but sometimes it was too hard.

It was too hard for them to look at the daughter they still had. Especially when she looked so much like the one they had lost.

So instead, JJ played soccer. It was only when she was running after that ball, fighting to get there first, that she was finally at peace. This was something she had, something not in the shadows of her sister.

When JJ looked up, Morgan and Aaron were still talking. They were away from the others, speaking in hushed tones.

"You think they'll be okay?" Hotch asked. His brows were brought together, his eyes intense.

"I don't know Emily and Garcia well, but Emily seems strong, she'll be okay. And Garcia probably just needs time."

"What about Reid?" Hotch asked.

"Oh yeah, I don't know him much either," Morgan said quickly, "but he'll probably be fine. People just need time. I have to admit, it freaked me out too, man. But I mean, it happened, there's nothing we can do."

Hotch nodded, "I'm just worried. It's a lot to take."

"They'll be fine," Derek said, "we'll be fine."

On the other side of the room Emily had found 90's sitcom, complete with the laughter after corny jokes. Emily and Reid were trying to get Garcia to laugh, making fun of the terrible acting, and commenting on the cute, but terribly acted, man.

JJ stared down at her red hands. They started to shake. The blood. So much blood.

Suddenly a voice snapped her out of her thoughts. JJ didn't know how long she had been staring at her hands, but suddenly Emily was standing in front of her.

"Hey JJ, come with me, okay?" She put out a hand and tentatively JJ let herself be helped up.

She didn't know where they were going, but followed Emily down the hall and upstairs. She wasn't in the condition to question or argue. She just passively went along. Emily opened a door in front of her and turned on the light. It was a bathroom. A huge bathroom.

The walls were painted tan, there were two sinks, and mirrors seemed to be everywhere.

"The towels are in the cabinet," Emily said, "and I'll bring you some clean clothes."

JJ gave a small nod, and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Without looking at herself, she undressed and turned the shower on. She put it as hot as she could handle and stepped in. Steam arose around her, and the water scorched her skin. The water ran red and JJ started to scrub her body.

When she had washed all of the blood away she leaned her head against the cool tile.

All she could think of was her sister. When she was in the woods, she was trying to forget, trying to find peace. Instead, she was met with it all over again. Beneath the blood, all she could see was her sister. Rosaline died all over again.

JJ squeezed her eyes shut, and finally let the tears fall. She let herself feel the pain.

When the water began to run cold, JJ stepped out of the shower. Her hands were still a faint crimson. She dried herself off and put on the clothes Emily had left her.

JJ walked back downstairs slowly. Everyone was still in the living room. She stood in the doorway and watched them. They were all watching the show now.

Someone had just made a joke and recorded laughter echoed in the room.

Aaron must have heard her there, he turned around, "Hey JJ, are you okay?"

JJ stared at him, stared at everyone. She opened her mouth, thought, thought of how to form the words. "She was breathing," JJ's voice cracked.

"What?" Aaron asked.

"She was breathing when I got there, and I ran."


	4. Chapter 4- Spencer

**Hey guys! Sorry it took so long to update, but I hope you are having a great weekend and enjoy the story :) I'd love to hear what you think!**

Reid went home the next morning. He was glad he had stayed at Emily's. They spent the night watching a marathon of that terrible sitcom. He and Emily spent so much time trying to make Garcia feel better, that he forgot how scared he had been. Of course he would never tell anyone that, they already thought he was weak enough to begin with.

He was only a year younger than them, but it felt like so much more of a gap. He was a senior too, but they had all had so many experiences he hadn't. That's what he got for sitting in his house reading all day. But that was the only thing he could do. He had to always be there– making sure his mother took her meds or didn't hurt herself.

And so now Reid had to go back home, where he once again wouldn't think about himself. But what he had told Garcia was true, maybe this was the best coping mechanism.

He drove down the street in the small used car he had saved up for by tutoring after school. It was the only way he could get around in the town. Although it was small, walking wasn't always the best option for him.

He wished Derek was with him. Whenever Reid had glanced back at him the night before, Derek would look away. He didn't know if it was because of what had happened... or maybe he was ashamed of him.

Reid tried not to think about that as he drove down the street. That was something he tried to never think about. Like how they had to hide their relationship– only meeting in the woods late at night.

But then again, Derek wasn't the only one hiding something.

Reid pulled into his driveway and parked on the side. When he went to the front door it was unlocked, something wasn't right. He opened the door and the stench of smoke filled him. He ran inside, ignoring the tightness in his lungs.

"Mom?" He shouted. He didn't see fire, but there was so much smoke, "Mom?" His voice was louder. He felt his way around the kitchen, blindly pulling out his cellphone. He wasn't even sure he had dialed 911 until a woman answered. He didn't understand anything she said, all he could say was "fire" and "mom". Somehow he managed to give his address before he was coughing so hard he couldn't talk. He found his way up the stairs and ran to his mother's room.

"Spencer," Diane scolded, "you really should knock before entering someone's bedroom." She was sitting up in her bed, a book open in her lap.

"Mom, get up. Come on, we have to get out of here." Reid looked between his mom and the hallway, where smoke was building.

"Come, sit down. Let me read you a story."

"Mom!"

Reid ran over to the side of the bed and grabbed her arm.

"Spencer, get off me!" She fought away from his grip.

"Mom, there's a fire, come on!"

"A fire?" She asked, "Spencer, you're overreacting. You should really be getting more sleep."

"Get up, mom," Reid started to panic.

"You're too spoiled, you know that? But fine, if you want me to get up, I will. I have classes in an hour, but I guess I can come with you until then," She sighed, then stood and tied her robe shut.

"Now come on." The hallway was so full of smoke it was hard to see. He took his mom's arm and pulled her through the hallway and down the stairs. He started to cough and his eyes watered. Using his free hand he felt his way through the hall and to the front door. When he got it open a rush of fresh air met him, but his mom ripped out of his grip.

"I have to get my book, I'm giving a lecture on it soon, I need to have it," she hurried back into the house, oblivious of the danger.

Reid heard sirens and saw the approaching lights for the second time in two days. He ran toward where his mother had gone, but suddenly he was being pulled back.

"I have to get my mom!" He shouted, trying to rip out of their grip.

Despite his best efforts he was pulled out into the fresh air and sunlight. He fought away from the strong hands, but was blocked from running back inside.

"We'll find your mom, son," A firefighter said through his mask, "but you need to stay here."

"She's upstairs," Reid coughed. He brought his hand to his mouth and stared at his house. Smoke billowed out of the downstairs windows and a flicker of orange caught his eye. Suddenly water was being sprayed on his house and within minutes the orange was covered by thick grey.

He tightened his hand into a fist and stared at the front door. He willed his mother to walk out. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think.

He let out a breath when a firefighter walked out carrying his mom. He ran up to them, "is she alright? Mom?" He questioned, his voice high and panicked.

No one answered him and he followed them to the ambulance he hadn't noticed previously. They put her on a stretcher– she wasn't moving.

Reid ran over and forced himself in front of a medic, "is she okay?"

"She has some minor burns and is probably suffering from smoke inhalation, but she should be alright. Are you her son?"

Reid nodded, not taking his eyes away from her.

"We'll bring you to the hospital too, you should get checked out anyway, hop in," the medic offered him a seat and he sat there, staring at his mom.

XXX

Reid sat in a chair in the hospital. They had checked his breathing, he was fine, would just have a little cough. He was just waiting to see how his mom was. He shouldn't have left, he shouldn't have left her alone for so long. This was his fault... if she was hurt...

He pulled out his phone and dialed the only number he could think of. He waited as it rang and rang until he heard the answering machine.

"Hey Derek," he whispered, "please call me, okay. I need... something happened. Please, just call."

He had just hung up when he heard, "Spencer Reid?"

Spencer stood up immediately.

"Hello," said a man in scrubs, "we treated your mother for some burns and have given her some oxygen, but she'll be fine."

"Thank you," Reid whispered, "can I see her?"

"Of course, she's just back in the ER. I can show you the way."

Reid followed the man down the hall. When they entered the ER they passed various people in beds, coughing, sneezing, and bleeding. Then he heard something all too familiar, and it made his heart skip.

"Spencer!" His mother screamed.

Reid ran the following short distance until he could see his mother. She was sitting up in a bed, the curtains pulled away.

"Spencer, get these people away from me!" she was fighting the nurses, and they were trying to hold her down, "they're trying to drug me, Spencer! You need to help me!"

"Mom," Spencer walked toward her, "these people are trying to help you. There was a fire and you got hurt."

"They started the fire!" She accused, "they were trying to kill me, and they failed so now they are trying again."

"The fire was an accident mom, no one's trying to hurt you." Spencer's heart dropped as he heard his mother scream again and saw her fighting with the nurses.

He was still trying to calm her down when someone stuck a needle in her and suddenly her body went limp. He watched her as she fell to the bed.

Spencer leaned back against the wall. He wiped tears from his eyes and tried not to look at his mom again.

"Son," Reid looked up and saw the man in scrubs again, "are you alright."

"Yeah, I'm fine," he shrugged.

"We still need to treat your mother for her burns. This reaction could be some sort of response to the traumatic experience."

"My mother is a paranoid schizophrenic," Spencer said, his voice flat.

"Okay," the man's voice softened, "our plan was to keep her overnight to prevent her wounds from becoming infected."

"That's fine," Reid looked at the ground. He had been trying to get his mom to go to the hospital for as long as he could remember. Even if this wasn't for her schizophrenia, they could keep her from hurting herself. She needed it. She needed someone to make her take her meds. She needed someone who could care for her better than he could.

"I should go," Reid said, he didn't want to be there when she woke up.

"Could I get a phone number, so you can pick her up?"

Spencer wrote the number down and handed it to the man. Then he left the room and walked down the hall. He tried to forget everything. He tried to forget the body, he tried to forget his mother's screams, but they all seemed to blend together.

He needed to get out. He found his way to an exit and stood outside, hoping the air would help. But nothing did. Tears came to his eyes again and he hated himself for it. He went for his car, and then realized he hadn't driven.

His face tightened in frustration, and he pulled out his phone. His voice was filled with more anxiety than he would have liked, but he dialed and waited for the beep again, "please Derek, please just call."

He hung up and dropped to the grass. He leaned against the building, his legs crossed. The blue sky was so deceptive. It was as if just hours ago his house had not been filled with smoke. And just last night he hadn't seen... her... in the woods.

He brought his palms to his forehead, trying to push away the impending headache.

Voices broke him out of his thoughts and he looked up just as a group of firemen walked by. He jumped up, "excuse me," he got their attention, "were you just at that fire?"

"Yeah," one of them said, "wait," his eyes registered recognition, "that was your house, right?"

Reid nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"How's your mom?" Another asked.

"She'll be okay," he nodded. There was a moment of silence, "what caused the fire?"

The firefighters looked between each other until the one in the middle answered, "it looks like someone turned the stove on, not realizing there was a dishrag on it. That caught on fire, and then transferred to the curtains. It would have taken awhile for the stove to start that kind of fire."

Reid stared at the grass, "and the house?" he whispered.

There was another moment of silence, "try to stay with relatives or friends, kid."

Spencer just nodded.


	5. Chapter 5- Derek

**Happy Easter guys! Here's a short one, but I hope you enjoy it :)**

Derek dropped his football gear in the middle of the kitchen. Nothing to push the events of last night out of his head like a Saturday morning football practice. With every push-up and every sprint, it was like he was fighting away the night.

He checked his phone, two missed calls from Spencer. He sighed, he wasn't ready to talk to him yet. He clicked ignore and stuffed it back in his pocket. Leaving his gear on the ground, he walked to his bedroom. He knew he would get hell from his mom, but he forgot about it the moment it was out of sight.

He closed his bedroom door and lay on his back. His phone buzzed again, he glanced at it, Spencer. He sighed and tossed the phone on the ground away from his bed. Derek knew he was being a terrible boyfriend– a terrible friend even. But ever since last night...

It had been so close. They had almost been caught. So many people were there– Emily, Aaron, JJ, Penelope... He trusted Aaron and JJ, but with this... Nobody could find out. He had determined that, no one could know.

When he first met Spencer, he didn't know what it was about him, but he was different. He didn't walk around trying to exert his dominance like every other male in his school. He was quiet, soft. The guys on the football team liked to poke fun at him sometimes, but Derek did what he could to keep them away.

But if anyone ever found out, it would be bad for both of them. This wasn't the most accepting town. It was better this way. At least that's what he told himself.

The front door opened and then slammed shut.

"Derek!" He heard from down the hall, "how many times have I told you not to leave you dirty gear on my clean floors!"

Derek sat up and sighed, "Sorry, ma, I'll be there in a minute."

He stood up and stretched out his tight muscles. His phone lit up for another missed call. Derek left his room and shut the door behind him. He walked to the kitchen where his mom was and started picking up his stuff to move it to the garage.

"Where were you last night Derek? I thought you would be home by midnight." She tried to sound mad, but didn't pull it off very well.

"Sorry ma, I was working on a project at Aaron's house, it got late so I decided to spend the night."

"Hmm, project on a Friday night?" She raised her eyebrow.

"You know me, ma, as studious as they get," he grinned at her.

"Next time be sure to call," she said as she started washing dishes, "I don't mind if you're out as long as I know where you are."

"Sure thing," Derek said and then he walked into the garage and dumped his uniform in a pile in the corner. The garage door was open, so he looked outside. The sky was blue and sun was shining. He walked out into the yard. It had been forever since he had felt the warmth of the sun on his skin without a layer of padding in between. Derek lay down on the grass and closed his eyes.

He thought about the future. When they graduated high school and got out of this place. Spencer would go to college, maybe he would follow him. But then maybe they could finally be together in the open. Maybe they wouldn't have to hide their relationship. They could hold hands in public and kiss. Now they could only do that in the woods.

A noise startled Derek and he opened his eyes, sitting up. There was an envelope next to him. Derek looked around him quickly, the street was empty. He picked up the envelope and examined it. His name was printed on it.

He quickly opened it and took out a small piece of paper. He unfolded it and a typed sentence was on the white slip.


	6. Chapter 6- Penelope

**Hey guys! Here's the next chapter, there's more information on the killer now! I would really love to hear from you :)**

Garcia sat in front of her computer. This is what she did, especially when she wanted to be alone. She could enter her own world in the computer, she didn't have to be a part of anything else. When she had gotten home in the morning she had talked to her parents. They made up, said their apologies. But that wouldn't stop it from happening again the next night.

They tried, they really did, they just didn't understand. Garcia sighed and tried not to think about them. She loved her parents, but sometimes they just made her so angry. So angry she wanted to scream.

She spent most of the day on online games, doing her best to forget what had happened the night before. Spencer's advice seemed to be helping, but then she couldn't help herself. She needed more information.

Garcia googled the murder and looked through articles. There wasn't much there. Maybe because it just happened, but there were also things missing that they had seen clearly. Maybe they were just keeping it out of the press. She looked behind her back quickly, not sure why, because she was alone in her room. She then proceeded to hack into the police database.

She didn't want to keep thinking about it, but she couldn't stop until she knew more. She wanted to know who they had found in the woods. Maybe it would bring some sort of closure to understand.

It wasn't hard to get in their database, it was tougher for her to hack into the high school database. It wasn't hard to find in information on the case– there weren't many deaths in this town, not to mention murders. Garcia found the police report, the facts made her cringe, although there was nothing that surprised her. The detective had put in details from their conversation, but there hadn't been much. They hadn't been able to help.

After Garcia looked through her preliminary findings she started to dig. She opened multiple pages and started to skim the information. Then she opened a file and pictures filler her screen.

"Oh God," she gasped and brought her hand to her mouth. She quickly hid the pictures from sight and pulled out her phone.

She took out her cellphone and dialed Emily's number. She answered on the third ring, "Hey Garcia, you alright?"

"Oh my God Emily, you have to get over here!"

"What? is everything okay?" Garcia could here in the background that Emily was already starting to get ready.

"I'm okay, just... I found something, okay? You need to see."

"I'll be over in a minute."

Emily hung up but Garcia kept the phone up to her ear and stared at the screen. Finally she rested her phone on the table and went back to looking through the files.

Her eyes were still glued to the screen when Emily walked downstairs.

"Hey, your parents let me in. What's up?" She walked up behind Garcia.

"Okay, so I know I'm not supposed to do this and everything..."

"Garcia, what did you do?" Emily questioned, looking at the screen and trying to interpret the words, "Did you...?" She leaned closer, "You hacked the police!"

"They're not going to catch me," Garcia said, "I've covered myself."

Emily didn't say anything, just pulled up a chair. "What did you find?"

"Well," Garcia started, "I was hoping we could figure out who the victim was. I don't know, give us closure. But then I found this." Garcia clicked the pictures back to the screen and Emily stared at them.

After a long moment of silence, "Where are these from?"

"I was looking around and they're from other towns really close to here. Like, share the same woods close."

"They have to be connected."

Garcia nodded, "I was looking at reports, they never shared the detail of... you know."

"Why haven't there been news stories about this? Something?"

"The police haven't said anything about them being connected, and without that detail, they appear to be random murders."

"This isn't right," Emily said, "a _serial killer_? Here?"

"I don't know, but I want to keep digging and see what I can find. Your mom still out of town?"

Emily nodded, "until this conflict is over."

"Let's go to your place, I don't want my parents walking downstairs and seeing this. I didn't even tell them about what happened last night." Garcia stood up and started packing away her laptop and everything else she would need.

Emily helped her pull together another bag of clothes, and once Garcia smoothed it over with her parents they were sitting in Emily's car.


	7. Chapter 7- Emily

"Do you think there's a killer here?" Garcia asked Emily in the silence of the car ride.

Emily didn't answer. She focused on the road ahead, it was pitch black outside and she could only see from the limited shine of her headlights. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel.

"Let's just get to my house and we can try to figure out more."

Emily could've driven this familiar path in her sleep. She had driven between her and Garcia's houses a countless number of times since she moved in. She was really her only friend. Well, her and Spencer, but she never went to his house.

Aaron was different. They were from different groups. Hotch was a "cool kid". He hung out with people like Morgan and JJ whereas Emily liked to hang on the edges of things. They had met working on a project after school last year. Somehow they just ended up spending so much time together. When she told Garcia and Reid about their relationship, they were shocked, but never did anything but support her.

Suddenly Garcia snapped her out of her thoughts, "hey, slow down."

Emily turned her head and saw someone walking down the street, head hung down, shoulder hunched. She slowed down and tried to make out whoever it was face.

"Is that Reid?" Emily asked.

"Spencer?" Garcia had already rolled down the window and was shouting out.

He turned his head, and suddenly Emily recognized him. Something was wrong, but she couldn't tell exactly what it was in the dark.

"What're you doing out so late?" Garcia called, "Come on, hop in!"

Reid looked down at his shoes and scratched them against the sidewalk.

"Come on, I'll drive you home," Emily said, speaking over Garcia.

Reid stepped forward and slid into the backseat. He kept his head down and his long hair covered his face, "Can I come over?" His voice broke.

Emily and Garcia both turned to look at him, "Of course you can Reid, but what's going on?" Emily asked.

"Can we just go?" he whispered.

Emily nodded and started driving again. No one spoke as they pulled into Emily's driveway and they all got out of their seats. They walked inside and Emily turned on the lights in the kitchen. Emily kept a close eye on Reid who was still looking away from them.

"What's going on, Spencer?" She asked again.

He looked up and stared at her. His hair fell to the sides of his face and she could finally see him. She held in a gasp. "Come on, let's sit."

"I'll get your couch dirty." He whispered.

"Think of it as a favor, my mother loves this couch."

The three of them sat in the living room and Emily couldn't stop staring at Reid's face. It was smudged black but more significant were the cuts on his lip and the bruise on his left cheekbone.

"I want you to tell me everything that happened," Emily said in a low voice.

"It's not a big deal," Spencer said.

"Spencer," she warned.

Reid sighed and glanced at Garcia who had not yet said anything. He looked back at Emily who was still staring at him, "I got home... there was a fire."

"Oh my God! At your house?" Garcia exclaimed.

"Yeah. My mom was upstairs, she started it with the stove. Must have forgotten she turned it on. By the time I got her out of the house there was so much smoke."

"Is she alright?" Garcia whispered.

"She will be okay, I guess."

"Where is she?" Emily asked.

"They kept her. She was burned and well..."

Emily didn't press. She had known about Reid's mothers condition for a while now. That was why he couldn't spend much time out and they never went to his house. She'd come to learn that he mostly didn't like to talk about it.

"What else?" She pressed.

"What do you mean?" Reid asked, "That's not enough?"

"Those cuts didn't come from a fire, I know that."

Reid sighed, defeated. He leaned back against the couch. "I was at the hospital. I didn't have my car so eventually I just decided to walk. But apparently it was later than I thought and it got dark pretty quickly. I was walking down the street and this group of guys come from behind..." Reid stared down at his hands and wrung them together.

"Who?" Emily asked.

"I don't know."

"Bullshit. Who did this?"

Reid continued to stare at his hands. He couldn't bare to look up. "Just some guys from the football team."

"They're going to pay for this," Emily promised.

"Please, don't make a big deal about this."

"Why didn't you call us? We could have picked you up," Garcia said.

"I know, sorry. I tried calling Derek, and when he didn't pick up... I guess i just didn't think."

"Wait," Emily stopped him, "Derek, as in Derek Morgan?" Emily watched Reid closely as he bit his lip realizing he had said too much. "Derek Morgan, captain of the football team?" She questioned him again.

"He's not a bad guy," Reid whispered.

"Are you two friends?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"And he lets _this _happen?"

"He wasn't there."

Emily took a deep breath to keep from shouting. She had to remember to breathe. She wasn't mad at Spencer.

"He didn't want me to tell you guys," Reid said, barely a whisper, "but we've been dating, you know, sort of."

"You and Derek?" Emily asked.

"Yeah."

Emily took in a deep breath and nodded. "I'll be right back." Emily stood up and left the room, walking to the front room where she had a view of the street in front of her house. She took out her phone and help it in her hand for a moment. She had Derek's number in there, he was friends with Aaron, and somehow it found it's way in there.

She flipped it open and dialed the number. After five rings he picked up.

"You better get your sorry excuse for an ass over here now or I will fuck you up so bad you won't even see it coming."

Emily hung up before he could respond.


	8. Chapter 8- Aaron

Aaron was sitting at his kitchen counter. The rest of his family was asleep upstairs so the house was eerily quiet.

"Tell me again what happened?"

JJ looked back at his from across the counter. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she was visibly shaking.

"Someone rang the doorbell and when I went to answer, this was sitting on the porch." JJ nodded toward the envelope now sitting on the counter. Jennifer was printed across it in dark letters.

"And you didn't see anyone?"

"I'm telling you, no one else was there. The street was deserted."

Hotch nodded. Something wasn't feeling right about this. What kind of sick person would leave a note like that. Did it have to do with what had happened the night before, or was it just some sick joke? He opened the envelope and read through the letter again. He shuddered, but tried to hide it from JJ. He was glad she had showed it to him.

Then his phone rang, the caller ID said Emily. "Hey Emily, what's up?"

"Sorry it's late," Emily said, "but can you come over?"

"Sure, what's going on?"

"A few different things."

"Okay... JJ's with me now, she has something you might want to see."

There was a pause, "Okay," Emily said, "I'll see you in a few."

Aaron hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket.

"I don't want anyone to see this letter." JJ said quickly.

"They don't have to read it, we can just see if anyone can make something from it."

Aaron stood up and JJ eventually followed him after giving him a long look. He handed her her jacket and they walked outside. They got in his car and he pulled out of his driveway.

They were riding down the quiet road, the moon was high in the sky. It gave an ominous glow. Hotch couldn't help but think how beautiful it would have been last night. Then he wondered about the woman. Had she been in the woods? Had someone brought her there? Could they have helped her?"

"Hey Aaron?" JJ said.

"Yeah?"

"What's this envelope?"

Hotch glanced over to the side and saw JJ holding up a white envelope. His name had been printed just the way JJ's had been. His hands suddenly gripped around the steering wheel until his knuckles were white.

"Don't open it yet," he said, his voice low.

The rest of the car ride all he could do was think of the white envelope. Would it be like JJ's? Was this some big prank? But how could it be?

How did it get in his car?

By the time he pulled up to Emily's house he was so consumed in his thoughts he didn't hear the shouting coming from the front porch.

He stepped out of his car and looked up. He recognized Morgan's car in the driveway and could hear Emily yelling. He ran up the driveway.

"You son of a bitch!" Emily was shouting at him.

"Hey, hey," Hotch interrupted, "what's going on?"

It was as if Emily hadn't heard him, "You know he gets beat up! He gets bullied everyday, by _you_."

"I didn't know," Morgan said weakly.

"You know damn well what they do to him, and you just turn a blind eye. Because you are too ashamed to admit he's your boyfriend!"

"I'm not ashamed."

"Scared then? A scared little bitch?"

"Emily!" Aaron said, "what are you talking about?"

"Stay out of this," she said, then turned back to Morgan, "I don't know what he sees in you. I am his friend, and he may forgive you or believe for some reason this isn't your fault. But if this ever happens again I will find you, and believe me Derek, you don't want that."

"I'm sorry."

"You go make it right. With him."

Hotch glanced between his friend and his girlfriend. Emily was still glaring at Derek as they walked into the house. He followed them and JJ was right behind him. They walked into the living room where they had spent the previous night, and Hotch started to get an idea what Emily was yelling about.

Reid sat on the couch, looking down, but you could still see the cuts on his face. He had never been close to Reid, but everyone in the school knew he got picked on. Aaron just never knew it was this bad, and suddenly he hated himself for never doing anything.

Derek instantly ran over to Reid and kneeled down in front of him. Hotch couldn't hear what he was saying, and felt like he was intruding just by being so close. The Spencer stood up and Derek followed him out of the room, presumably to find somewhere more private.

"If he forgives that son of a bitch..." Emily started.

"Hey," Garcia said, "we never said anything when you started dating..." she glanced at Aaron, then quickly looked away.

"Yeah, but he and his goons weren't beating me up after school," Emily hissed.

"I'm just saying, we need to support him."

"I know," Emily sighed, "I will."

Aaron looked around the room. He could already see it. They were falling apart, this group, these people. There were too many alliances, too many grudges. Too much past history.

JJ caught his attention out of the corner of his eye and handed Aaron his envelope. He took it and examined the outside. There was nothing but his name. He opened it slowly and took out a small piece of paper.

He unfolded it and read the contents. Then he folded it again and set it down.

"You guys," he said, but no one listened to him, "everyone," Aaron said louder. They turned to face him. "I know this is hard, but we have to put all of this stuff behind us. Because something is happening," he glanced at the envelope, "and I have a feeling we are going to need to stick together for this."

Then the doorbell rang.


	9. Chapter 9- JJ

JJ froze. She looked around, no one was moving. The sound of a clock ticking filled the room and tree branches scratched at the windows.

"Is someone out there?" Emily breathed out. Her words barely audible.

Aaron moved to the wall and peered around it, "I can't tell," he whispered.

"Oh God," Garcia's breathing started to quicken, "he's going to kill us."

"We don't know who rang the doorbell," Aaron reasoned.

"It is past midnight," Emily hissed, "whatever it is, it isn't good."

"Do you have any sort of weapon?" Aaron looked at Emily.

She scanned the room, "I don't think so. My mother doesn't like guns in the house. We have the steak knives... but that's it."

JJ watched Aaron as he looked at the kitchen and back to the room they were in. He hurried across the hall and pulled a long knife out of the drawer. "I'm going to check it out. You all stay here. If you hear anything, call 911. Don't come to the door." He stared at all of them.

"Aaron..." Emily said.

"Just do it."

JJ noticed the way Emily bit her lip and tightened her muscles before she let out a tight nod. The floorboards seemed to creak more beneath Aaron's feet as he walked down the hall toward the front door. JJ peeked around the wall and saw him look through the window. He reached his hand out and set it on the handle, waiting a moment before he turned it.

JJ was holding her breath. She was waiting for anything.

Aaron stepped outside. He was out of the house for just a moment, but the air seemed to leave the room. Then he walked inside and closed the front door, double checking the lock. JJ let her breath out when he came into the room, but then gasped again when he set three white envelopes on the side table.

He fanned them out. Printed uniformly on each envelope was a name. Penelope, Emily, Spencer.

"What the hell?" Emily stepped forward. She picked up the envelope with her name and looked at it.

"JJ and I got similar ones," Aaron said hesitantly.

JJ looked at her own envelope when Garcia took hers from the table and her and Emily opened them. She read hers again, cringing at each word. She looked up, Garcia was shaken, but Emily had hidden any response she had from her letter.

"Someone should go get Spencer and Derek," she whispered.

Aaron stood up without speaking, when he came back Morgan and Reid were with him. Reid's eyes were rimmed red, and Derek seemed defeated. He had always been tough, and it was hard for JJ to see him this way.

JJ handed Reid the envelope and he opened it. After he read it, without looking up, he said, "is this a joke?"

"I don't think so," Aaron said, "We've all gotten these envelopes. Well, except Derek. I don't know what yours says, but mine doesn't sound like a joke."

"But who would do this?" Garcia asked.

"Who do you think?" Emily snapped.

"Guys, guys, let's take a breath," Aaron said. JJ couldn't help but smile. So very Aaron like to try and control the situation, even something as insane as this. "I don't know about your letters, some may be personal, but I think it would be best if we shared them. Maybe we can understand what we are dealing with."

JJ tucked the envelope back in her hand and looked at everyone else.

"I'll start," Hotch suggested, "I found the envelope in my car when JJ and I were driving over here. It says: _Wouldn't it be terrible for your brother to be an only child? Imagine if you weren't there to protect him, what might happen?_" He cleared his throat to cover his fear.

Everyone sat and stared at each other. JJ didn't know what to do. No one other than Aaron knew about her sister. The others hadn't known her back then, and it wasn't something she shared. How could she share this note without them finding out?

Luckily Emily spoke, "It says: _Do you think your mother would even notice if you were gone?_" She spat out the words like I bitter taste. She didn't look at anyone, just stared at the paper.

"Penelope?" Aaron asked softly, "I'm sorry to ask... but..."

"Yeah," Garcia sighed, "okay. _Do you think your parents would fight less if you weren't there?_"

JJ couldn't help but notice how sad she sounded when she read that. It was hard to listen to this. They were sharing things far too personal, their insecurities.

Before he had to be asked, Spencer spoke. His voice was shaking, and he swallowed thickly, "_Your mother can't even cook herself dinner. Would she be able to survive without you there to hold her hand?_"

JJ sat with her head down. She knew what was coming next.

"JJ?" Aaron implored.

She unfolded the paper again; she stared at the words. They seemed to swim across the paper. They ran, they didn't want to be read. But JJ had just heard things, about the others. Clearly something was going on.

She bit her lip and took in a shaking breath, "_Your parents already lost one daughter_," JJ had to stop. She closed her eyes and tried to compose herself before speaking again, "_would they survive another loss? You are 17, aren't you?_"

She couldn't say anything else. Then unexpectedly Morgan spoke.

"I got one too," when Derek spoke JJ looked up. He pulled out a crumpled envelope from his pocket, "it was left in my yard, that son of a bitch was three feet away from me." He looked at Spencer before continuing, "it said: _What would the football team think if they knew where you went after Friday night games? If they knew that, would they be glad if you were no longer able to play?_"

"This has to be the killer," Emily breathed out, "he must have seen us in the woods."

"But how does he know so much about us?" Garcia asked.

"How do you find out about people? The internet," Emily said.

"Nobody knows about my sister, I haven't told anyone," JJ whispered.

JJ looked up at them. They didn't look at her with pity, they didn't shy away from her, just nodded.

"So this person knows about us. They have to live here, in this town," Morgan concluded, "these aren't things you find online."

"Garcia," Emily said, "tell them what you did find online."

JJ looked around the group of people that sat in the living room. They were sprawled across the couches and ground, but nobody relaxed. They all kept one eye on a window or a door. They were looking out for eachother. JJ never would have called Emily, Penelope, or Spencer a friend. At least not until today.

Spencer had always been that shy nerd, Garcia the weird techie, and Emily the snobby rich girl. Those were the labels she had placed on them. But sitting here, each of them reading the letter they had been sent, she understood something. None of them had perfect lives. There was something wrong everywhere. They didn't seem to judge her for what she said. No one looked at Reid weird when the letter mentioned his mom. And nobody asked about anyone elses families.

They understood. And now they were in this together. Because someone knew things about them, and they were going to use this knowledge; that, she knew.


	10. Chapter 10- Spencer

Reid's head was spinning. There was so much. So much happening, so much talking, so much chaos. He could hardly focus on anything. He could do numbers, facts, but this was different. This was something unfamiliar. Everyone read the notes they had been given, including him. He wasn't alone in his dysfunctions.

But that didn't stop him from not being able to meet Derek's eye. Spencer had left out one key fact when explaining the nights events to him. His mother.

Emily and Garcia knew, but he had never been able to tell Derek. It wasn't that he was ashamed of his mom, he just didn't know what to say; how to say it. Instead it seemed easier to let that piece of information fall through the cracks.

After he told Derek what had happened with the football team, and what had happened before, Morgan swore it would never happen again. He even said he would come out, start seeing him in public. Reid knew not to count on it. That way it would be less of a disappointment if it didn't happen.

He brought his focus back to the room. Garcia had pulled out her laptop and was typing furiously on the keyboard. Everyone seemed to be focused on her, so he turned to look. She had pulled up photos on her screen. They looked to be replicates of what they had seen in the woods, but they were different women although they did look similar.

"Where were they found?" Reid asked.

Garcia scrolled down the page and named three towns that bordered theirs.

"So, a serial killer?" Derek asked.

"How come nobody noticed?" JJ added.

Garcia continued to scroll through other information, "According to these reports it looks like they didn't connect them until they found this body..."

"And all of the victims had...?" Aaron asked.

Garcia knew what he was asking and nodded.

Reid tried to absorb everything he was hearing. Maybe he could make sense of it.

"So let me get this straight," Morgan started, "there is a serial killer in our town. We walked in on him in the woods, and now he knows who we are?"

"Looks like it," Aaron affirmed.

"Well now what?" Derek asked.

"What do you mean?"

"What does he want to do? Kill us? Scare us?" Morgan met Reid's eyes and then Reid quickly looked away.

"I don't know what he wants," Hotch answered, his voice sullen.

A gush of wind rocked the large house and everyone froze. They waited silently, listened. Listened for an unnatural noise, a man made noise. They eyed the windows tentatively and with fear. The house creaked again, Ried held his breath.

"We have to figure out who it is," Emily whispered.

"What?" Garcia's voice rose above the windy sounds.

"We can't let this son of a bitch let us live in fear. We've got to catch him."

"He could kill us."

"What's to stop him from killing us now? He knew you were over at my house. He knows where we are now. Alone, six teenagers. He doesn't want us dead," Emily finished.

Reid thought about that. He didn't want them dead. At least not yet. So what was he doing? Did he think they saw him? But if they had, surely they would have called the police by now. It had to be something else.

"Do you have a map, Emily?" Reid asked.

"Uh maybe, why?"

"If I plot out where the bodies were found and where the women were taken from, I may be able to narrow down where... he could be." Reid explained.

Emily stood up, "there might be one in my mother's office. Let me check."

Aaron stood up quickly and followed her out of the room.

When they were gone the room became silent again. No one knew what to say. Reid looked over just in time to see Derek stand up and move over toward him.

"You don't have to tell me anything Spencer, you don't owe me an explanation. Just know I'm gonna be here for you now. For anything," he said softly into Reid's ear.

Spencer nodded and leaned into Derek's warm body. He let himself relax against him just a miniscule amount. He felt safer here. Looking at them, no one would ever think they could be a couple, and not just because they were both guys.

Derek was fit, muscular. Captain of the football team. His dark skin was smooth and his eyes dark and deep. Everyone loved Morgan, guys wanted to be him and girls wanted to be with him. His grin could light up a room with his perfectly white teeth. Spencer loved that grin.

And then there was him. Skinny, awkward, the most he gave was a little half smile. It was obvious why he would be a target for the football team. He had been bullied ever since he could remember his glasses being knocked to the ground when he was four. It wasn't easy. He wasn't big enough to fight back and never really wanted to. Even at that age his mother wasn't fit to take care of him. It left him fending for himself. Both at home and out in the world.

He had seen Derek around before, but actually met him when Reid started to tutor him after school for junior English. They met every Tuesday and Thursday, but in the public library, Derek couldn't risk his teammates seeing him.

Emily and Aaron walked back into the room and she handed him a map.

"What're you going to do with that?" JJ asked as he unfolded it.

"I'm not quite sure..." he found a pen on the table and took the cap off, "Garcia, read to me where the women were taken from and where their bodies were found." As Garcia listed off the eight locations he started to mark them on the map. When the spots were marked he stared at it. He tapped his pen, thinking.

The women were all taken from a different town from where they were found. But it was all in the same proximity. And as Reid looked at the map, he shuddered. The towns this happened in seemed to circle theirs. Each kidnapping and dump moved closer to them. It seemed the killer was circling the town getting ready to make his move.

Morgan had been looking over his shoulder as he did his work, "this isn't good, is it?"

Reid shook his head. He pushed the map forward into the group. They peered over, each of them seeing the same thing.

"So you're saying he's from here?" Emily asked.

"This isn't definitive," Reid answered.

"But what do _you _think," Derek asked.

"Okay, yeah," Spencer said, "he's probably here. It's the only thing that makes sense. He saved his town for last."


	11. Chapter 11- Derek

**Hey guys, thanks for the reviews! And thank you to the guest user, I took your advice as you can probably see :) **

Morgan had spent the night keeping one eye on Spencer, making sure he didn't disappear. He had meant it when he said he wouldn't let anything happen to him. He would be a better boyfriend now, he had to be or he might lose him. And Derek wouldn't be able to handle that.

The six of them had remained in that living room all night. No one left for any reason unless someone else was with them. Their fear began to dissipate as the sun rose, but it was never eliminated. They had tried to plan something. Some way to figure out who this guy was. But as Sunday afternoon came around it was time for people to head home.

"Keep your eyes out guys," Aaron said, "don't walk around outside alone. Keep track of who you see around. Just stay safe. We'll meet up again and see what we can come up with."

They all grabbed their minimal items they had brought and got ready to leave. Morgan reached out and took Spencer's hand in his, "come home with me," he said.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

Morgan nodded and held his hand tighter as assurance.

"JJ," Morgan heard Hotch say from behind him, "I can give you a ride home. You too Penelope. Do you want to come over Emily?"

"I'm fine," she said.

"Are you sure you want to be alone?" Hotch asked.

"It's not like it would be the first night," she bit back.

"I was just thinking, because of everything..."

"I'm not incompetent."

Aaron didn't respond after that, but Morgan heard something in her voice that Hotch had missed. Derek heard the pain beneath her words, they way she hid it with anger, the way she pushed him away so he wouldn't see it. It was all too familiar.

He looked back at Emily. She was still composed, if only her face flushed lightly. She tucked her hair behind her ears and pursed her lips. Derek didn't say anything, just met her eyes for a moment. He gave her a small nod and then left the house with Spencer at his side.

The sun was high in the sky when they got back to Derek's house.

"Are you sure it's okay if I stay here?" Reid asked, his voice quiet and fearful.

"Come on Pretty Boy, let me show you inside."

They walked through the green grass of his front yard. The house was small, just one level. There were three small rooms, his sisters shared one and the other two went to him and his ma. Morgan once again intertwined his fingers into Reid's, he was determined to show he meant it. But when they walked into his house he dropped his hand.

His sisters were sitting in the kitchen doing homework and eating raspberries. His mom was behind them ironing.

"You missed church Derek," Desiree said, purposefully trying to start an argument between him and his mom.

Derek didn't miss a beat, "the only reason you go is so you can see 'Mr. Gorgeous Blue Eyes'," he grinned as Desiree picked up a notebook and threw it at him.

"You read my diary?" she shouted, reaching for something else to throw.

"I would never invade your privacy like that... but you might want to talk quieter when you're on the phone." Derek had expertly dodged the book and was started laughing.

"You little-"

"Hey, hey," his mom interrupted, not looking up from the laundry, "stop your fighting. Now Derek, how is your project going?"

"My what?"

Fran looked up with her eyebrows raised.

Morgan caught his slip, "oh yeah... it's going good." He smiled, knowing his mom wasn't actually mad.

"Now are you going to introduce me to your friend, or does he just have to stand there and watch a day in your life?" Fran nodded toward Reid.

Suddenly Derek was less confident. He had told himself what he was going to do. He ran it over and over in his head last night. He had to. But suddenly thinking of those words coming out of his mouth, all he could think was that he couldn't take them back. Who knew who his sisters would tell. What would the kids at school say?

Derek glanced at Reid who was shifting uncomfortably back and forth on his feet. Then Morgan realized, this was his fault. Spencer was _his _boyfriend, he shouldn't feel uncomfortable here. He shouldn't feel uncomfortable anywhere. This was his only chance, because if he didn't do it now he could lose him. If he didn't tell, he should.

"Umm," Morgan ran his hand over his head, "this is Spencer."

Fran narrowed her eyes, paying closer attention to her son. She had noticed the shift, it wasn't often that Derek was uncertain or nervous.

"Nice to meet you Spencer," she smiled at him.

"Um," Morgan continued, "he's more than just my friend." It felt like he was giving a speech. Standing in front of his mom and sisters. Trying to get it right, but not remembering the words. Suddenly he felt a hand around his, he looked over and saw Reid nodding slowly. Telling him it would be okay.

"He's not just my friend, he's my boyfriend. We've been dating," he suddenly let out in one breath.

"You're gay?" Desiree blurted out.

Sarah shoved her from the side, "Desiree," she hissed.

"I'm just asking!" She responded.

Derek had never really thought of it like that before. Gay, straight. To him all that mattered was Spencer. It suddenly surprised him that he hadn't thought of that before.

"I guess," he responded, "yeah."

Fran had walked to where Morgan and Reid were standing. She reached out and took Spencer's hand in hers, "it's nice to meet you Spencer," she smiled, "why don't you stay for dinner?"

Reid had his eyes on the ground, Morgan could feel his hands sweating and could hear his fast breath from where he was standing.

"There's something else ma." Morgan looked at his mom, someone he had respected all of his life. She was the strongest woman he knew. The strongest person. She singlehandedly raised Derek and his two sisters after their dad died. It meant so much that she accepted him.

"What is it?" Fran had an uncanny radar when it came to her children.

"There was a fire at Spencer's house yesterday, his mom is in the hospital. He doesn't have anywhere to stay."

"Well Spencer," Fran turned to him and Reid slowly lifted his head, "you feel free to stay here as long as you need. How is your mother?"

"She's okay," he said quietly.

Fran nodded, "if you need anything, you just let me know."

It was Reid's turn to nod now.

"Now Derek, why don't you show Spencer to your room?"

Derek was leading Reid down the hall and to his room when his mom shouted toward him, "and you might want to grab some sheets and a pillow, you wouldn't want to get a sore back sleeping on the couch."

XXX

Derek sat up on the couch, he couldn't sleep. Reid had tried to protest, saying he should sleep on the couch, but Derek finally got him to agree when he said his mom would have a fit if she found Reid on the couch.

For some reason his thoughts kept going back to the woods. He could feel the cool nights air on his skin and feel the hooting of owls. He had been so excited for that hidden meeting.

"I thought you might still be awake."

Morgan jumped, but then looked over and saw his mom standing in the doorway.

"Mind if I sit?"

Derek answered by moving over to the side and giving her space. She leaned back into the couch and sighed as she sat down.

"You know the first time I brought your father home, my father told me to leave the house and not come back until I was alone."

"You never told us that," Derek said.

"There was no need. I wouldn't let my father's negative attitudes affect my children."

"Was it because he was black?"

"Yes," she sighed again, "people were less accepting back then. My father didn't know why I would want to marry a black man. But you look around now, people of every color are marrying. There will always be people like my father telling them it's not okay, but with every generation that happens less and less."

Derek didn't say anything, he knew why his ma was telling him this. He leaned back against the couch.

"People are going to tell you this isn't okay. They're going to call you things that I won't have spoken in my house. But know, whatever happens, I accept you and I support you. And one day, everyone else will come to understand and accept you too."

"Thanks ma."


	12. Chapter 12- Penelope

**Hey guys! Thank for the reviews/alerts. I would love to hear more of what you think :)**

"Doesn't it scare you at all that all of the victims had brown hair and brown eyes?" Garcia asked Emily as they walked down the hall together.

"Considering they were all at least twenty years older than me, it doesn't concern me any more than the fact that the killer's been sending us threatening letters," Emily responded.

"Yeah, okay, you've got a point there."

Over the weekend reports of the murder had surfaced, it was all over the news and it was all anyone was talking about. In a town where the most significant thing was the football team, a murder catches everyone's attention. They all have theories and they all want to be heard. It wasn't until last night that the broadcasters started talking about a serial killer. They reported that the police were looking into "many promising leads", but they had nothing.

Garcia continued to follow the case on her computer, sharing everything she learned with Emily. She didn't like to read about the victims or how the murders happened, it was too sad. She did it for the information. She did it so they could figure out who was doing this.

"It's hard to imagine sitting in class all day with everything that's happened," Garcia said, pushing through a group of students who were standing stagnant in the hall.

The six of them had decided not to tell anyone they had found the body. They didn't want to be bombarded by people asking questions. It was easier to pretend they were like everyone else in the town.

"Speaking of," Emily said, "I gotta head to Calc. Ms. Ryan is threatening to give me detention if I get another tardy." Emily made a face before turning left and disappearing down the hall.

Garcia then started towards English– her least favorite class. They always had to have these discussions, interpreting books, reading into deeper meanings. She would rather decode a system. It didn't help that she didn't know anyone in her class.

The bell rang just as Garcia slid into her seat. They were reading _Crime and Punishment_. Suddenly it seemed too fitting. She tried to pay attention as Mr. York asked questions.

"What is Raskolnikov and Sonya's relationship?"

"What is the meaning of Raskolnikov's dreams?"

"How would you define evil?"

That one made her stop. Evil. What did evil mean? Are people evil? Are their actions? Did murdering someone make you evil, or was the whole 'good people, bad choices' things accurate?

If people were evil, were they born that way, or did they become that way?

Garcia listened to the answers her classmates gave. Evil is to "act immorally to intentionally harm others". But how did one define what was moral? Wasn't it all relative?

The phone rang and Mr. York answered it. He looked at Garcia, "Penelope, you are requested in the the counselor's office."

Usually Garcia would relish an opportunity to get out a English, but as she walked down the hall she was trying to figure out why she was going. It could be about college, or a class. Maybe her counselor wanted to discuss the C she had in English and decided this was the best time.

But when Garcia walked into the office and saw a man in a suit, she paused. Something about him had an air of officiality. He didn't introduce himself, just stood there. Waiting.

Then Emily walked into the office. She gave Garcia a 'what the hell?' look. Garcia returned it. Minutes later came Reid, Morgan, Hotch and JJ. They were all shuffled into the not quite big enough conference room and the man finally spoke.

"Hello, I am David Rossi with the FBI."

Garcia froze. FBI. How could they have figured out she was hacking the police department? There's no way. She covered everything. What would they do? Could they arrest her for that? What would her parents say? Garcia's thoughts were tumbling out of her brain when Hotch stopped them.

"What can we help you with?" Aaron asked without a stutter.

"I have recently been assigned to the case of the woman who was found murdered in the woods." The man– David Rossi– had dark sunglasses tucken on his shirt. He had dark facial hair and spoke with a slight Italian accent. "I was told it was you six who found her body. I read the report you gave to the Detective, but I was hoping I could ask you some more questions."

"I'm fine missing math," Derek leaned back in his chair and crossed his fingers behind his head.

Rossi nodded, "when you were in the woods did you hear anything? Maybe someone talking."

"I just heard screaming," Emily said, "but I'm pretty sure that was JJ."

JJ nodded, "probably."

Everyone else just sort of nodded in agreement.

"Okay," Rossi said, "when you found the body, you said she had been killed recently."

"She was still warm," Hotch said, glancing at JJ, "that's how we knew."

"Did you hear anyone around you then?"

Garcia thought back. They stood around the body, Garcia could barely think, breathe, function. It was too much, seeing that woman, seeing all the blood. She had closed her eyes, taken deep breaths, tried to calm down. Then she heard something.

"Footsteps," Garcia whispered, still thinking, "we were all still in the opening. I had thought it was an animal, but it was footsteps. They were coming toward us."

Everyone was silent. They weren't surprised that the killer had seen them, the notes were evidence of that. But thinking of him standing there, watching them. Approaching them. That was different.

Rossi asked a few more questions, then handed out his card to everyone. So it was official, the FBI had taken over the case. He asked them to call if they thought of anything and then left the room, leaving the six of them staring at each other.

"Should we tell him about the notes?" Reid asked.

"No," Emily said.

"Couldn't it help them?"

"We can't tell anyone," Emily looked around to the group, "we don't know who this guy is. We don't know what he knows or what he wants. We need to keep this between us."

Garcia stared at her. She was right; it could be anyone. He could be watching them here, at school. Suddenly Garcia didn't want to stand up and walk through the halls. She felt exposed. Like every movement was being watched.


	13. Chapter 13- Emily

By the time Emily walked out of school that Monday afternoon it was nearly five. Every Monday she had French Club. While she wasn't thrilled about being stuck in a room with the other kids in her school any longer than necessary, her mom required she did at least one activity a trimester.

French Club wasn't too bad. They mostly ate French food and she listened to kids butcher the language. She was the only one there who could speak it fluently, not counting their advisor, Mr. Moreau. He had lived in France for years before coming back to the US to teach.

That monday they had taken over the FACS kitchen and were attempting to make crepes. Emily stood back and watched the others, she wasn't feeling great after that meeting with the FBI agent. This whole thing just made her stomach turn.

Plus, she got a message saying her mother would be home tonight.

"Emily, vous sentez-vous bien? (Are you feeling alright?)" Mr. Moreau asked, "You don't like the activity?"

"Non, c'est génial (No, it's great)," Emily responded in perfect French, "je suis juste fatigué (I'm just tired)."

"Bien (Good) ," Mr. Moreau moved on about the room, attempting to monitor twenty students using stoves. Preventing a fire and burns were probably his only concerns.

As much as French Club was okay, she just needed to get out of there. She needed to walk outside. Finally everyone had stuffed their mouths with crepes and the room only smelled slightly of burnt food. They did a quick clean up, Emily grabbed her bag and got ready to leave.

"Avoir une bonne nuit, (Have a good night)." Mr. Moreau said as she left the room.

"Merci, (Thanks)" Emily smiled and left the room.

Instead of heading to the front doors like usual, Emily went out back. She took a deep breath of the fresh air and started to walk. She wasn't ready to go home yet. She could barely stand her mother on the average day, but today was already getting to be too much. She could feel it building up inside her. One conversation with that woman and it would all come out.

Emily hated feeling like this, like she wasn't in control of herself. She needed to take a deep breath, put everything back in it's little place. Then she could finally relax again.

When she looked up Emily realized she was heading toward one of the many football fields. Someone was still sitting there, probably an over dedicated jock. She looked away from him, toward the wooded area in the back of the school. She didn't feel like being messed with today, and didn't have the energy to fight back.

She started to imagine what life would be like once she got out of high school, once she got out of this town. She couldn't help but fantasize about it.

The boy stood up and Emily glanced over, then she realized it was Derek. She took a closer look and it appeared he was limping. She had heard rumors throughout the day. Everyone knew he was dating Spencer.

"Hey Derek," Emily started walking toward him.

He turned his head, his smile was small, "Hey." He rolled up his sleeve and examined a bruise the size of a baseball forming on his arm.

"They do that to you?" Emily nodded at his bruise.

"I guess you could call it a rough practice."

Emily and Morgan were now walking side by side. "Just know you made the right choice."

"I know," Derek nodded, "what're you doing back here? I didn't think you played a sport."

Emily smirked, "just not ready to go home yet."

"I hear ya. Spencer doesn't get back from tutoring until after six," they approached the school, "wanna grab a bite to eat?"

"Sure," Emily agreed, gracious for any excuse not to go home.

Fifteen minutes later they met at diner down the street from the school. Derek was already at a back booth when Emily got there. She slid across from him and ordered a chocolate shake and a plate of fries.

Minutes later the food was sitting in front of her and Derek had a burger.

"Have you come up with anything about who this guy could be?" Morgan asked between bites of burger.

Emily shook her head, "I don't know how we're supposed to do this. I don't know where to start."

"I bet Spencer has some sort of idea, smart kid," Derek grinned.

Emily couldn't help but smile back. She liked the way he talked about Spencer, "Yeah, well, I just hope he doesn't hurt anyone else."

They continued to talk, trying to brainstorm ways to approach this, but ended up empty handed. Emily knew she couldn't avoid going home to the silent tension much longer. As they waited for the waitress to come back with their changes Derek started digging through his backpack. He then looked up at her and handed her a book.

Emily took it and examined the cover.

"It's _Slaughterhouse Five_ by Kurt Vonnegut," he explained, "I've read it a lot. Mostly when I miss my dad and things are lonely at home. It seems to help."

Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all Emily thought. She tucked the book in her bag, "thanks," she said. And she meant it.

XXX

That night after an awkward talk with her mother Emily sat in her bed reading _Slaughterhouse Five_. She had been forced to explain the dirt marks on the couch and other various items that were not up to her standards. But now Emily didn't have to think about that, she was too intrigued by her book.

Something about Vonnegut really made her think. But not about school or her mom, not about the stupid things. Before she knew it she was almost done with the book and it was early morning.

Something caught her attention and pulled her out of the book. It sounded like footsteps, a door opening. Maybe her mother got out of bed. But that didn't make sense, her mother locked her door at ten and didn't leave until six.

Emily rested the book on her bed and listened. The noise came again.

"Mom?" she called out hesitantly. Goosebumps rose on her skin and a shiver shook through her, "Mom?" she repeated, but got no response.

She sat there frozen in her bed. "You're being stupid," she whispered. She moved the blankets away from her legs and stepped out of her bed. The floor creaked beneath her as she walked to her door. She opened it and the hinges creaked. She took a step into the dark hall and followed it down.

She squinted her eyes against the dark. She reached forward, but her mother's door was open.

"Mom?" Emily whispered. She took a step into the room and froze. It was too dark to see. She fumbled for the lamp on her mother's bedside table. She flipped the light on.

She turned and in the shadows she saw her mother lying in bed with two large red x's over her eyes.

**So... what do you think? **


	14. Chapter 14- Aaron

**Here's to posting at 2:30 in the morning because I can't sleep and have nothing better to do... Enjoy!**

Aaron couldn't make out what she was saying on the phone, but he was already half dressed and in his car by the time she hung up. He sped down the street toward Emily's, but before he reached her house he saw lights, the red and blue lights of the woods. There were only two police cars but the lights seemed to echo for miles. He parked down the road, behind the squads, and ran.

The front door was unlocked so he let himself in. Nobody was by the door but he could hear voices down the hall.

"How many times do I have to tell you, _I didn't see him_," Hotch could hear Emily shout.

He followed the voices to the living room, just glad to know that Emily was okay. When he stepped into the entrance of dining room he saw Emily along with two police officers.

"Are you alright, Emily?" He asked.

Emily turned in her seat, and when she saw him jumped up. "Oh thank god you're here." She wrapped her arms around him and rested her face on his shoulder. Aaron returned the hug, still unsure of what was going on.

It wasn't until Emily stepped away from him that he saw her hands. They were smudged red, just like JJ's had been that night.

"Emily?" He looked at her.

She bit her lip and wiped her cheeks where there had clearly been tears earlier. "He was in my house," she whispered.

"What? Who?"

"_Him._" Her face set and her eyes narrowed, "that son of a bitch was in my house!"

"The...?"

"The killer, Aaron, he was in my house!"

"I'm so sorry Emily, what happened?"

She didn't respond, but instead brushed her hair away from her face and looked down. Aaron then heard talking behind him and turned. Ambassador Prentiss was walking down the hall with the FBI Agent who had spoken with them that morning.

"I want to know how he got past this state of the art security system," she demanded.

"Ambassador, we are doing everything we can to catch this man. As you may have seen on the news, we think this may be connected with some prior killings."

"Well I have a house to protect and a job that needs my focus. What are you going to do to ensure this man does not bother me again?" Her lips were pursed, she looked older than Aaron remembered.

"We will post a unit outside of your house," Rossi tried.

She scoffed, "I guess I'll just have to deal with this on my own." As she walked out of the room and into the kitchen Aaron noticed marks of red still on her face.

Aaron waited in the front room until the officers had finished talking to Emily. She walked into the room, her face pale and her eyes dry. She sat down on one of the chairs and stared ahead.

After twenty minutes passed without her speaking, Aaron said, "do you want to talk about it?"

Emily sighed, "I thought she was dead. I saw those x's on her eyes... just like the woman in the woods... I thought she was dead."

Aaron didn't say anything, just waited to see if she would continue.

"And I was scared, terrified. And then I was sad, I mean, I thought my mother was dead. But then she woke up and I realized that nothing had ever changed," Emily moved her gaze to the carpet, "all she cared about was how this would affect her work." Emily shook her head, "god, he was in _my house_. Right down the hall from my room."

Aaron didn't know what to say. He didn't know what he would do if anyone tried to hurt Sean.

"Aaron," Emily said to him, looking up, "if this guy can get into my house, he can get any of us."

Aaron then began to think about the four others, "what should we do?"

"Call them, let them know what happened. They can come here if they want, I'll smooth it over with Mother, but we'll have an army guarding this place soon enough."

It was Monday night, well Tuesday morning to be more accurate. The officers and Agent Rossi were still in the house. They were checking for any evidence of who might have broken in. All Aaron could do was stare at Emily. The man could have killed her, he could have killed her mom, so why didn't he? And why was he doing this to them?

Aaron pulled out his cell phone and was about to dial the numbers when Emily spoke again.

"We've gotta find him, Aaron. We have to."

"I know," Aaron whispered, "we will, I promise."

But he didn't believe the words as they left his mouth. How were they, six high school students, supposed to find a serial killer that the FBI hadn't been able to track? What sort of abilities did they have?

What could they do?


	15. Chapter 15- JJ

**Hey guys, I hope you enjoy :) Let me know what you think!**

Despite the fact that it was four in the morning, JJ was awake when she got the phone call from Aaron. She hadn't been able to sleep, restless all night. She tossed and turned, not exactly sure what was keeping her awake.

Her parents still weren't really talking. They weren't fighting, this was just what happened. They both encased themselves in silence, hoping not to open old wounds. But for JJ the silence was unbearable. It was just another reminder that she wasn't enough. And while she missed Rosaline everyday, she couldn't help but be mad at her.

When JJ's phone rang she gratefully answered, anything better than her endless stream of thoughts. But when she heard Aaron's voice on the other end, something wasn't right. He explained what had happened and JJ sat frozen in her bed.

Suddenly the silence was more. It was the noise hiding in plain sight.

After listening to Aaron she got dressed, grabbed her bag, and walked out into the night. She got in her car and drove to Emily's.

When she got there there were still multiple other cars in the street. She parked behind Aaron's and walked into the house. Aaron was already waiting for her and steered her away from the adults and into the basement.

The basement was fully finished, complete with a mini kitchen, fireplace, and carpeted floors. Emily was sitting on a couch, staring at her laptop. Her eyes were glazed over and she didn't seem to be aware that JJ was there.

"Hey Emily," JJ said as she sat down on the other side of the room.

Emily's head shot up, "oh, hi JJ." She turned to Aaron, "is anyone else coming?"

"Penelope's coming over now, Spencer and Derek are going to come in the morning."

Emily nodded. By now JJ was pretty sure they were all playing hooky tomorrow. She looked hesitantly at Emily, she wasn't sure what to do. Aaron had given her the premise of what had happened. The man, the killer, had broken into Emily's house and painted red x's on her mom's eyes, just like he had his victims. Yet, he hadn't killed her.

Was she supposed to say something? Ask if she was alright? Acknowledge that she knew what had happened?

Instead she settled with saying, "what do you want me to do?"

Aaron looked over to Emily. She hadn't looked up from the laptop as if she hadn't heard her.

"Right now just start looking into the case and see if there is any information that you think would be helpful in identifying this man. We are hoping that with six of us looking at it we will be able to come up with something." Aaron answered.

JJ nodded and pulled out her laptop. She didn't know exactly what to do, so she just used Google. She came up with articles about each murder. The first didn't have many. It was once they connected the murders that people really cared.

People were intrigued by death. That's why when there was a car crash on the road, everyone stopped to look. There's something alluring about the elusive force. Something that both pushes people away and pulls them closer.

After Rosaline had died people were always around. They brought food and cards, but they never knew what to say. They were there for their own benefit. JJ was only eleven, but she noticed how people would come to the house, but avoid conversations. They just watched.

She started to read about the victims. All of them looked eerily similar. Brown shoulder length hair, brown eyes, and thirties to forties. Two of them had had children.

They were all found in the woods. The same woods that surrounded this town and all of the other towns surrounding it. They were laid on their back, red x's across their eyes, their throats slashed.

Suddenly all JJ could think of was that night. She had tried to block it out of her memory. She thought of her red hands, her beating heart. She remembered the woman's breath... the woman's voice.

JJ tried to shake herself out of it. She needed to concentrate. They would figure out who this guy was. That's how they would catch him.

A door closed and JJ looked up. Penelope and Aaron walked into the basement. She hadn't even realized Aaron had left. Garcia immediately ran over to Emily and pulled her into a surprised hug.

"Oh my god Emily, I'm so glad you're okay!" Garcia exclaimed, her arms still wrapped tightly around Emily.

"I'm fine Garcia, except for the fact that you may be suffocating me!"

Garcia dropped her arms but stayed in front of Emily, "I came over the minute Aaron called, what do you need me to do?"

Emily gave a hint of a smile, "hack into whatever you can for information. If you need to, have it lead back to me. I don't want to be the reason you get in trouble, but we need answers."

"You don't need to ask twice." Garcia immediately began to pull out various things from her bags until she was surrounded with computer equipment.

As JJ watched this she couldn't help but be a little sad. She'd never had any friendships like Emily and Garcia's. Never had anyone to run over to her house and pull her into a hug. Nobody to care if anything happened to her.

She had Aaron and Derek, but it wasn't the same. She didn't have anyone to stay up late into the night talking about boys with. No one to share clothes with or get advice.

All of that had died with her sister.


	16. Chapter 16- Spencer

Reid sat up in Derek's room. He had gotten a call from Aaron almost an hour ago. All he wanted to do was jump up and get to Emily's house. But he couldn't.

Derek sat in the living room, he refused to leave until morning. He didn't want him mom or sisters home alone. It made sense, it was brave even, but Reid couldn't help but sit awake, wondering what was going on at Emily's.

It wasn't the first time he had been torn between his friends and his boyfriend. Especially when his friends didn't know about Derek and he would have to make excuses. It was hard when Reid felt like Emily and Penelope knew him better than his own boyfriend.

He loved Derek, he really did, but hiding had really taken a toll on their relationship.

This was only the second time Reid had been in Derek's house. The first being yesterday. He met him mother yesterday and saw his sisters. Spencer liked to pretend it didn't bother him, but that was getting hard.

Instead he passed the night finding out as much as he could about the case and committing it to memory. He knew this is what Emily would want. After what happened she would be mad and this would be her outlet.

So he sat in the near foreign room scanning the internet until the sun rose. He heard commotion down the hall, signalling that the others had woken. He got out of the bed and was changing into a pair of sweatpants when the door opened.

"Oh, sorry!" Derek actually blushed, "I forgot." He turned to leave again.

"It's fine," Spencer gave him a small smile and finished pulling the way too big sweatpants to his waist.

He hadn't been able to wear any of his own clothes since the fire, so instead he had been wearing Dereks. Of all the people, Spencer thought, he had to share clothes with the most muscular and fit guy. The clothes hung off his skinny body.

"Let me help you with that," Derek said. He took a step closer. he brought his hands to Reid's waist and put his hands on the waistline of the pants. He rolled it up so the pants were no longer hanging on the floor.

Morgan kept his hands were they were and looked up at Reid, "I'm sorry for everything," he whispered, "I'm sorry I made you hide our relationship. I'm sorry I didn't treat you better. I'm sorry I let you get hurt."

"It's alright."

"No, Spencer, it's not. What I did wasn't alright. But I will keep trying to make it up to you. I love you," his breath tickled Reid's ear.

"I love you too," he whispered back, his voice caught in his throat when Derek moved his hands to his back.

Derek brought his lips closer to Reids, but waited.

Spencer looked up at Derek. He felt his strong arms around him and suddenly felt okay again. He took a step into his body and lifted his lips against Derek's soft ones. Derek moved his lips slowly, holding Spencer closer with each passing moment.

Spencer could feel his heart beating out of his chest. He opened his mouth letting Derek's tongue sweep his lip. His body tingled.

They pulled apart, hot breath filled the small gap between them.

"Derek!" Desiree called from down the hall, "we gotta go or we're gonna be late again!"

Spencer gazed in Derek's eyes for one last moment before he pulled away.

"I'll be there in a second," Derek returned.

Derek looked back at him and smiled. He walked to his closet and pulled out a pair of jeans and a fitted navy blue t-shirt. He did nothing to shield his body as he changed, and Spencer had to keep himself from staring.

When he was clothed Derek turned, "let's head out Prettyboy."

Spencer grabbed his bag and followed Derek down the hall and into his car where Desiree and Sarah got in the back. Morgan drove to the school, but instead of parking he pulled into the drop-off lane.

"You playing hookie?" Desiree asked, raising her eyebrow, "ma's gonna have a fit when she finds out."

"Just like she would if she found out you went to Deshawn's last weekend and not Julie's," Derek responded easily.

Desiree huffed but said nothing. She and Sarah slid out of the car and started walking. Derek waited until his sisters were in the school and then pulled away.

By the time they got to Emily's everyone was sprawled across the basement. Garcia had her whole set-up, JJ was on her laptop across the room, Hotch was sitting on the couch, and Emily was leaning against him sleeping.

"Is Emily okay?" Reid asked.

"She hasn't slept all night," Aaron whispered, "I finally got her to put her computer away."

Reid nodded and sat on the other couch. He took out his laptop as Morgan sat down next to him.

Garcia looked up from her own computer, "Hey Spencer, hey Derek. So before Emily completely passed out she made it very clear we were going to find this guy."

"Yeah," JJ agreed, "I'd recommend we have something before she wakes up."

"What have you come up with?" Spencer asked, mentally scrolling through everything he had read.

"I read that all of his victims were between aged thirty and forty, they were all women with dark hair and brown eyes. He would kidnap them and keep them for a few days, then dump them in the woods with red x's over their eyes," JJ said.

Reid nodded, that was the same as everything he had read, "The killer is probably around the age of the victims," he said, "since the victimology is so similar he may be basing his victims off of someone he knows in his life."

"Victimology?" Morgan raised his eyebrow.

"I did some research last night," Spencer replied, "turns out Agent Rossi is a profiler."

"Profiler?" Garcia asked.

"Using facts from the case they try to come up with a psychological description of who the perpetrator could be."

"So you're saying this is a thirty or forty year old man?" JJ asked.

"Well, it's not an exact science. But he is probably also white."

"Great," Morgan said, "a white man between the ages of thirty and forty. That is officially half of our town."

"I know," Spencer said, "we need to narrow it down further."

"How exactly are we supposed to do that?"

"Well, what else do we know?" Spencer asked.

"The women were all taken on a friday night and dumped on a sunday," Garcia said.

"He could have a job during the week," Spencer said, "leaving him only the weekends."

"Wait," JJ said, "the third victim was taken on a Wednesday."

Garcia looked back to her computer, "JJ's right. She was taken Wednesday night and found on Saturday."

Reid thought for a moment, "what makes that week different? It doesn't make sense that he would all of a sudden change. If he could kidnap these women whenever, why was it the same for the rest?"

"I was out of town that wednesday," Morgan thought back, "I must have missed school."

Reid flipped through the dates in his head, "wait, you guys, that was finals week. We had finals Tuesday and Wednesday and had the rest of the week off. It was teacher workshop."

"So if he's only kidnapping when he doesn't work, he works at the school?" Garcia gasped.

"He could work at the middle or elementary school too couldn't he?" JJ asked.

Hotch shook his head, "the middle school had school those days. I remember because I drove Sean to school."

Reid looked around as this information began to sink in. "We don't know this for certain, but it makes sense that he would work at the school..." Reid said slowly.

"That's how he knows so much about us."

Reid looked over to Emily who had spoken.

"Think about it," she said, "Reid, they would know about your mom. JJ, your sister. You overhear things at school. It's not too hard to learn things about people. Plus, they have all of our information. Our addresses, contact info..."

"That means he knows everything about us," Penelope whispered.

Reid looked around. That man was in the same building as them everyday. He probably spoke to them. He could be a teacher, a janitor, an administrator... he could be anyone.

**Who could it be?**


	17. Chapter 17- Derek

**Hey guys! It's been a crazy week and it's only Monday! Well, I hope you enjoy!**

Morgan instantly thought of everyone he knew that the school. His teachers, the football coach, the school counselor. Someone could have overheard him and Reid talking. They thought they were being sneaky, but it really wouldn't have been that hard.

"But why my mother?" Emily asked.

"Well, she does fit the victimology," Spencer said.

"Yeah, but he didn't kidnap her. He didn't even hurt her. And it was a Tuesday. That doesn't fit with anything else we said about him."

"He could've been trying to scare you," JJ said.

"But why _me_?" Emily pressed, "Out of all of us?"

"I don't know," Spencer admitted.

Derek paused, that was one of the few times he had heard Reid say he didn't know the answer.

"What are we going to do?" Emily asked, "we think he works at the school. There are a ton of men who work there. How do we figure out who it is?"

Spencer's cellphone rang and he slid out from Morgan's arm. He answered his phone and walked down the hall.

"It's Tuesday," Aaron said, "if this guy is going to stick to his timeline we only have three days before he kidnaps someone new."

"We will figure out who it is before then." Morgan recognized the determination in Emily's voice.

Spencer walked back into the room, "I've gotta get to the hospital guys, sorry."

"Is your mom okay?" Garcia asked.

"They say she's okay to come home."

"That's good!" Garcia exclaimed.

"Yeah," Reid said, his voice flat.

Morgan stood up, "Come on Spencer, I'll drive."

Together they walked out of Emily's house, passing the two men in dark suits that were standing in her kitchen. When they pulled out of the driveway Reid sighed.

"What's up, Prettyboy?" Derek asked.

"I just," he sighed again, "I'm a terrible son. All I can think is that this would be so much easier if she stayed in the hospital. They can't commit her though without her willingness."

"You're not a terrible son," Morgan said.

Reid shook his head, "You don't know anything about my mom."

"But I do know about you," he countered, "I know you love your mom and would do anything for her."

"I just don't know how I'm supposed to keep her safe. It's hard enough when there's not a serial killer. She can't protect herself."

"Could you talk to her?" Morgan asked hesitantly.

Reid stared out the window, "depends."

They drove in silence the rest of the way to the hospital. When they got there Morgan walked inside with Spencer and followed him to talk to the doctor.

"Spencer," the Doctor said in recognition, "thank you for coming in."

Reid nodded back.

"Your mother's burns are healing well, we were able to prevent any infections. Now that that is under control she can go home."

Morgan could see Reid bite his lip and gaze toward the ground. This look had become so familiar in the past week. The look of uncertainty and fear.

"Is there anyway you can... keep her here?" Reid asked, already knowing the answer.

The doctor looked down at the younger man with sad eyes, "how old are you?"

"Seventeen," Reid whispered.

The man nodded, "I assume you already know the answer. We can't keep her here against her will. If you could talk to her, get her to commit herself, that would be another story."

Spencer nodded, "I'll try..."

He looked at Reid, "Your mother is in the room. We haven't told her you are here. I'll be right down the hall."

Reid looked up at the room and hesitated.

"I'll be right here if you need me," Derek said.

Morgan gave him one last look before Spencer walked into the room. Derek leaned against the wall and waited. He couldn't believe that in the months they had been dating he had never heard anything about Reid's mom. He had interpreted that his dad was out of the picture. He knew he and Reid were both raised by single mothers, but now it started to look like Spencer was the one playing parent.

He could faintly hear Spencer. He could hear him begging his mom to stay here for a few days. Promising that he wasn't leaving her, but that it would be safer for her here. That led to her questioning what wasn't safe. Their conversation went back and forth for a half hour.

Morgan tried not to listen, he didn't want to intrude their privacy. He remained where he was when Spencer came out and got the doctor, bringing him into the room. Another ten minutes later he walked out.

Derek didn't say anything, but once again followed him through the hospital and out into the parking lot.

"Let's go back to Emily's," Reid said when they were sitting in the car.

They were driving down the street when Derek finally spoke, "how are you doing Spencer?"

"Just fine. I just scared my mother to convince her to stay in the hospital. She thinks I've left her for good."

"You're just trying to do what's best for her."

"Am I?" Spencer asked, "or am I doing what's best for me?"

Morgan was quiet for a moment as they turned down streets, "how long have you been taking care of her?"

Reid shrugged.

"I was ten when my dad died," Derek said, "I mean, age ten and I'm the man of the house. I would always make sure my sisters got home from school, did their homework, I rarely left the house. When I was fourteen I didn't try out for the football team. I had to be home everyday to make sure everyone else was okay."

Morgan paused for a moment as he remembered back to then, "so one day my ma comes home from work. She makes me come outside, grabs a football and we play catch. She's not very good, but that's not the point. She apologizes for putting so much responsibility on me and then reminds me I'm only fourteen. For four years I hadn't been a kid.

"I mean, after that I didn't all of sudden stop looking out for my sisters, but I stopped putting so much pressure on myself. You're still just a kid Spencer. I know you can't change any of this, but you don't have to be so hard on yourself."

They pulled into Emily's driveway and Morgan turned to the side. Reid was still looking out the window.

"Spencer," Morgan said softly.

Reid slowly turned his head. He had tears in his eyes as he looked into Morgan's.

"I'm just so scared that one day I'll be too late," Spencer whispered.


	18. Chapter 18- Penelope

**Here you go :)**

"I don't think this is a good idea..." Garcia protested.

"Can you do it or not?" Emily asked.

"Well yeah, but..."

"Okay, then you know what to do."

Garcia sighed as Emily pulled her backpack on her shoulders and walked out of the room with Aaron by her side. Once they were gone Garcia leaned back.

"Does anyone else think this is a bad idea?"

"Yes," Reid responded.

They both looked over to JJ who was nodding her head.

"Well, since we're not going to talk them out of it, we better get to work," Garcia said.

As Garcia, Reid, and JJ sat in Emily's basement Morgan, Hotch, and Emily made their way to school. It was now Wednesday and Garcia was still not a fan of the plan Emily had come up with. Nonetheless she hacked into the schools database.

While the others were at school keeping tabs on the male staff members, Garcia, Reid and JJ were doing their best to narrow it down. They had printed off a list of every single adult that worked in the school, already crossing off the women and trying to come up with ways to make the huge list smaller.

"How are we supposed to do this?" JJ asked.

"Garcia, can you figure out what teachers missed the workshop day?" Spencer asked.

"If it's online, I will find it." She stared at the computer and typed furiously. Garcia searched through the school database. She recognized the link with all the grades, found the one with discipline, and passed over attendance. Then she thought for a moment, got into the attendance page and changed their absences.

"So what exactly are they planning on doing if we figure out who it is?" JJ asked.

"Knowing Emily," Garcia said while keeping her eyes on the screen, "nothing good."

"How long have you guys been friends?" JJ asked.

"Me and Emily?" Garcia thought back, "well she moved here sophomore year, so I guess about then."

"You've only been friends for like three years?"

Garcia glanced over at JJ trying to figure out what she wanted.

"Oh," JJ said, "I just meant, it seems like you've been friends for a long time."

"Quality over quantity is what I say," Garcia laughed.

JJ didn't really respond, just gave a short chuckle and then looked away.

"I don't know much about you JJ," Garcia said.

"I guess I could say the same about you too," JJ said back.

"It's funny how we can all live in the same town for so long and barely know each other."

"I guess they kind of sectioned us off in elementary school and it's stuck."

"Well," Garcia said, "no better time to start breaking boundaries than now. Especially since I have to wait for this stupid thing to load," she glared at her computer, "I've lived here all of my life with my mom and my dad, no other siblings. As you probably already know I'm big into computers, I spend most of my time either on them or hanging out with Emily and Spencer. As you may not know, I'm a pro-hacker. Those A's and B's I got last year? Not due to studying."

JJ laughed, "well, I've also lived here forever with my mom and dad. I spend most of my time playing soccer, I'm counting on a soccer scholarship to get me out of here. Other than that, there's not much about me."

Garcia noticed she hadn't mentioned anything about friends. She was curious, because she always say JJ surrounded by people, "who do you hang out with?" she couldn't help but ask.

JJ shrugged, "I guess at school the girls on my team. I don't know, sometimes Aaron and Derek. Not so much anymore though."

Garcia heard a twinge of sadness in her voice and didn't press it. She had always looked at JJ as a stuck up athlete. Constantly surrounded by friends and oblivious to anyone deemed below her social status. But as she got to know her over the past few days, Garcia discovered that she had just been judging JJ.

But now as she got to know JJ, there was something lonely about her. Something that needed a friend.

"Well now you have me, Reid, and Emily to hang out with. And we're definitely cooler than any soccer team," Garcia lifted her voice and tried to sound enthusiastic.

"Yeah," JJ said, "you guys are." She smiled for what seemed like the first time in forever.

"Give me your phone," Garcia reached out her hand and waited until JJ set it there. She entered her name into her contacts and smiled as she handed it back.

"Garcia," Reid said, "I think you're in."

Garcia looked to her laptop and saw that she had finally gotten through the system and was looking at teacher information. It had their addresses, phone numbers, vacation days. Garcia's eyes narrowed, "got it," she said and clicked on the tab marked absent/sub.

It kept track of all the days teachers were gone and what subs were to cover them. Garcia bit her lip as she scrolled through and smiled when she saw they kept track of workshop days.

"You got that list, Spencer?"

Reid pulled out the list and started crossing off names as Garcia read them to him. When she was done they looked at the paper. There were six teachers, four janitors, and two administrators.

"This is better than before," JJ said, "but it's still too many."

"Let me get the list to Emily," Garcia said. She pulled out her phone and sent Emily a list of all twelve people.

"Now let's try to narrow this down," Garcia said.

"He is probably single if he is keeping these women all weekend," Reid said.

"Good thinking," Garcia scrolled through their files, crossing of names until they were left with four. She got Emily the updated list.

But four was still too many. Four potential killers. All of them in the school. All of them watching Emily, Derek, and Aaron.


	19. Chapter 19- Emily

Emily fidgeted in French. Although it may have been her favorite class, she had more important things to do. Mr. Moreau lectured about the past tense, something Emily could do in her sleep. Immersion really did make you learn a language fast.

She remembered being in country after country, only knowing the basics. She was made fun of in school, people laughed at her and used words she didn't understand. After that she learned the language pretty quickly.

"Emily... Emily," Emily looked up and saw Mr. Moreau was talking to her, "Je vous ennuie? Préférez-vous faire autre chose? (Am I boring you? Would you prefer to be doing something else?)"

"Non, désolé (No, sorry)."

After that Emily tried to do a better job at paying attention, or at least make it look like she was, but she was really just counting the minutes until she could leave. Now that they had a list, they could make a plan. Finally the bell rang and she stood up. As she was leaving Mr. Moreau stopped her.

"Emily, vous semblez avoir du mal à se concentrer récemment. Êtes-vous d'accord? (you seem to be having a hard time concentrating recently. Are you alright?)"

"Désolé, j'ai juste beaucoup sur mon esprit (Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind)."

"Ok, je suis ici si vous souhaitez parler (Okay, I am here if you would like to talk.)"

"Merci, mais je dois partir maintenant (Thank you, but I should leave now.)"

"Bonne journée (have a nice day)."

"Vous aussi (you too)." Emily left the room and met up with Aaron and Derek. She showed them the list she had gotten from Garcia and they came up with a plan. With only four people, they could do it.

"If we have the right person and we start sniffing around, they're going to know what we're up to," Aaron said.

"It's the only way we can do this. Are you guys in?" Emily looked at both of them.

"I am," Derek said.

"Yeah, I am too. But if you get any sense it's our guy, don't press it." He gave Emily a look.

She smirked, "I got you Aaron, it'll be okay."

"Remember," Aaron added, "this guy will want to taunt us. He may think it's funny that we are talking to him, unaware that he is the killer."

"Got it, now it looks like I'm going to have a word with the football coach," Morgan grimaced.

"And I'll go speak with my history teacher and then my 9th grade English teacher," Aaron followed.

"And I will go make an appointment with my counselor."

As Emily walked down the hall her heartbeat began to quicken. It was easy to be brave in front of others, the real challenge was keeping the front up when she was alone. She didn't feel like waiting in line for an appointment, so Emily did her best to make her eyes water.

When she got to the counselors office she made her voice crack and asked to talk with Mr. Truller. She only had to wait for five minutes before being ushered into the room.

Mr. Truller had dark brown hair and wore a gray suit. He leaned forward in his chair his eyes attentively watching Emily. He looked truly concerned when he asked, "how are you doing, Emily?"

Emily sniffled, she stared down at his black dress shoes, "not great."

"What would you like to talk about?"

Emily looked up and closely watched Mr. Tuller as she talked about her mom. She told him how afraid she was that a killer was in her house. She drew more tears to her eyes and he gave her the speech about how everyone was doing their best to find the man and that is was okay to be scared.

She had to hold in a smirk when Mr. Truller reminded her that school was a safe place.

When she walked out of the office she knew it wasn't him. She just knew it deep down. This guy wasn't taunting her or laughing at her, he seemed to actually care. She grumbled to herself as she walked down the hall, hoping Aaron or Derek had seen something.

But when she met them after school they too had the same results.

"How can it not be any of these people?" Emily asked, exasperation filled her.

"Did we get it wrong?" Aaron asked, "Are we sure it's a teacher?"

"If that's what Spencer thinks then I agree with him," Morgan said, "we must be missing someone."

That night when Emily got home she sat in the basement alone. Everyone else had gone home. It was late, they had already spent days away, other things were becoming more important now. But Emily couldn't stop thinking about it. She couldn't stop thinking about this man watching them in the woods, about his following them, leaving them notes. She couldn't stop thinking about him standing in her house.

She sat on the couch with her knees tucked to her chest. What had made her think they could do this? They were teenagers for Christ's sake. They weren't Detectives or FBI Agents. This man had killed four women and nobody had caught him.

He was just going to continue. Come Friday another woman would go missing and there would be nothing they could do.

Nothing they could do but wait. Wait and see what he would do. Because there was nothing they could do to stop him.

**What do you think? Who could the killer be? **


	20. Chapter 20- Aaron

At school the next day Aaron kept looking for Emily but she was nowhere in sight. He tried to call her but there was no response. By the time lunch rolled around he left out a side door and jogged to his car.

Aaron drove the fifteen minutes to Emily's and pulled into the driveway behind her car. He tried calling her again and when she didn't answer he went to the front door and rang the doorbell. The wind whipped against his face as he stood on the front porch.

He tried to look in the front windows but they were blocked with curtains. While Aaron tried to give logical reasons for what was happening, all he could think of was the man in her house. Aaron should have spent the night; he shouldn't have left her alone.

He tried the front door, but it was locked. He went back to the garage and typed in the code Emily had given him a few weeks ago. A weight lifted off his chest when it lifted open. He slid inside the garage and tried that door, it was unlocked.

He slowly opened the door and silently stepped in her house. He listened for anything as he crept upstairs to Emily's room. The door was already open and when he looked inside she wasn't there.

Suddenly he began to panic. Her car was there, she wasn't at school, so where was she? He checked all of the rooms upstairs and went back to the main level. He looked around those again before heading down to the basement. When he stepped down into the main room he let out a sigh of relief when he saw Emily laying on the couch.

Her eyes were closed and her body shifted.

Aaron stood there and watched her. There was something beautiful about the way she slept. He rarely got to see her without her guards up. She was always watching everything she said, monitoring her actions, keeping something back.

And Aaron understood. As much as he liked to pretend there was such thing as a perfect family, he knew that was just a fantasy. Aaron wasn't sure how old Emily was when her dad left, it wasn't something she liked to talk about. Neither talked about family. It was easier to pretend everything was okay. Aaron never admitted it to her, but he liked to think about what it would be like if they got married. How they would be parents much better than their own.

"Dammit Aaron, what are you doing here?" Emily sat up.

Aarn shifted on his feet, "sorry if I scared you. I got worried when you weren't at school..."

"Aaron," Emily rolled her eyes, "I can take care of myself."

"I know Emily," he sat down next to her on the couch, "but that doesn't mean I don't worry. Especially with everything that's going on."

Emily sighed and looked at him, "I just didn't feel like going to school."

"Any reason? Other than the usual?" Aaron rested his hand on hers.

"It's just so stupid, so pointless. It's Thursday Aaron. Tomorrow he's going to kidnap another woman and there's nothing we can do about it."

"We could-"

"No Aaron. We already tried. We tried and we failed. There's nothing left."

Aaron turned and looked at Emily closely. It wasn't like her to give up, to accept defeat. She was looking down at the floor. Aaron gently brushed the hair away from her face. She glanced up, her eyes moist.

"It's not over Em," he whispered.

"How do you know?"

"I won't let it be, I promise," he leaned forward and brought his lips close to her ear, "I won't stop until we find him."

Emily brought her hand up to his face and held it there gently. She could feel Aaron's warm breath against her lips as he hesitated. She glanced into his eyes for a moment before bringing her lips against his.

Aaron slowly brought his hands to her waist and pulled her closer. Emily pulled away and rested her forehead against Aarons.

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

XXX

Aaron could still feel Emily's soft lips against his as he pulled off the road and parked his car. He stepped out onto the dirt path. The sun had gone down an hour earlier and now only the moon lent it's light.

A shiver passed through his body as he walked into the woods. It was the same path he had walked a week prior, with Emily's hand in his he wasn't prepared for what the night would bring. But tonight he was ready.

He was going out there looking for something. He wasn't sure what, not yet. But he needed to find something. He wasn't going to go back empty handed.

He refused to be another unkept promise.

Every sound caused him to cringe. Aaron hated being so afraid, but every noise he heard was hostile. They were no longer just owls, they were questioning him, demanding his motives. He was no longer welcome in these woods.

As he got closer to that location the temperature dropped. He took out the flashlight he had brought and started to scan the ground. he was looking for anything foreign. Anything that could lead him to who was in those woods that Friday night.

Leaves crackled beneath his feet and an animal scurried behind him. He tried to put up a brave front, although he wasn't sure who it was for. He wanted to leave, but he thought back to Emily. He wanted to be a better man for her, better than either of their dads, but he couldn't be that if she didn't feel safe in her own house.

He swept the light back across the floor of the woods and something glinted back at him. He stopped and brought the flashlight back, finding what it had spotted. He saw something amongst the leaves and moved closer. He leaned down and picked it up.

The object was small as he held it in his hand, but Aaron recognized it immediately. He closed his fingers around it and held it tight. They had been right.

He walked briskly back to his car and got it. He locked the doors and sat down. He set the key card from their high school on the chair next to him. There was no name, nothing to specify who it belonged to, but they had been right.

It was a teacher. And he was missing his key card.

**Why not leave a review? :)**


	21. Chapter 21- JJ

**I hope you're having a good Labor Day! Enjoy :)**

By the time JJ got back from soccer practice it was dark out. Her parents were gone, nothing that unusual, so she locked the door behind her and walked into the kitchen. She leaned against the counter, letting her cleats dirty the kitchen floor, but she was too tired to care.

JJ thought about all of the homework she still had to do, but almost immediately pushed it away. The entire week had been crazy. Sleepless nights blurred into hazy days. She couldn't stop looking behind her. She hadn't done any work all week, why start now?

She thought about making herself something for dinner but instead she walked upstairs, ready to collapse into her bed and fall to sleep. But as she turned into the hallway something wasn't right.

JJ froze. She stared ahead. The door was open.

Rosaline's door was open.

It was never open. They closed it the day she died and it had stayed closed ever since. Her parents looked away whenever they walked in the hall. Rosaline's room remained the same as it was ten years ago. It was frozen in time.

JJ took a step forward. There was a lamp on casting an eerie glow about the room. There was no way her parents were in here. Especially not now when they were doing everything they could to forget. And JJ hadn't been in the room since she was seven. Not since she sat on her sisters bed, looking around the walls.

Not since she heard the voices from downstairs. The neighbors, the relatives. Not since her dad yelled at her to get out and her mom cried. Not since the door was closed for the last time.

JJ almost expected Rosaline be sitting in her room. Music playing from her CD player, her reading a book or writing lyrics. JJ brought her fingers to her chest and felt the necklace resting there as it had for ten years.

She stepped into the room and looked around. There were the same posters on the walls, same pictures of a girl frozen in time. But there was something new on the bedside table beside the lamp. JJ's stomach dropped and her heart jumped out of her chest.

She reached out and picked up the piece of paper. She unfolded it and looked at the words printed neatly in pen.

_Wouldn't it be easier for everybody if you just did it yourself?_

Next to it was a bottle of pills.

JJ froze in her place. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't move. She stood there, staring, then all of a sudden she needed to leave. She needed to run.

She grabbed the items from the table and ran out of the room going straight to her car. She didn't breathe until she was driving down the night street.

XXX

JJ stood on the front porch in her soccer uniform. Tears filled her eyes and she couldn't see clearly. The front door was opened and suddenly she was pulled inside.

"JJ!" Garcia exclaimed, "what's going on? Are you okay?"

JJ looked up. Garcia was wearing pink pajamas, her hair was on top of her head. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Instead came tears. Ones she had been holding back for ten years.

Garcia opened her arms and enveloped her in a hug. JJ leaned into her arms and let herself be held. She couldn't hold the tears back anymore.

"It's okay Jayje," Garcia soothed.

JJ took a few deep breaths before pulling away from Garcia's arms, "sorry," she gave a half laugh.

"Come on" Garcia said, "let's go to my room."

JJ followed her downstairs and into her bedroom. Over half of the room was filled with computer equipment.

"Sorry about the mess," Garcia said as she sat down cross legged on her bed, "I don't get many visitors down here."

"It's okay," JJ sat down in the desk chair and tucked her feet up.

After a moment of silence Garcia spoke, "do you want to tell me what happened? I mean, you don't have to, I just thought you might want to..."

JJ took in a deep breath. This was so different. She had never had someone to turn to. "I found this in... my house." She handed the letter and bottle of pills to Garcia.

Garcia read the letter slowly and examined the bottle. "Oh JJ!" She exclaimed.

"I just... I found them, they were in her room."

"Your... sister?" Garcia asked hesitantly.

JJ bit her lip and nodded, "ten years ago," she whispered, "my mom found her. She was lying in her bed... I was in my room down the hallway when she found her. I still can't get the sound of her screaming out of my head."

"He's trying to scare you JJ."

"And he's succeeding," JJ shook her head, "he's scaring all of us Pen. Those notes, Emily's mom, and now this, he wants us to know he can do whatever he wants. I just don't know why he's doing it."

"Because he can," Garcia said.

Garcia picked up the bottle of pills again and looked at them, "are these from your house JJ?"

JJ looked at them and shook her head.

Suddenly Garcia smiled, "we've got something JJ, he gave us a name."

"What?" JJ got out of the chair and sat next to Garcia on the bed.

"Steven P. Rains," Garcia pointed to the name on the bottle.

"There's no way that's his real name."

"But it's something, Butterfly, it's something."


	22. Chapter 22- Spencer

"You snore, Prettyboy."

Reid's eyes shot open, Derek was standing above him. "What are you doing?" He exclaimed, sitting up.

"I came to wake you up, but you looked too peaceful. And then you started snoring, that was less peaceful," Derek laughed.

Reid moved the blankets and stood up, "how long have you been watching me?"

"Long enough so that you only have fifteen minutes to get ready," Morgan smirked, "you can't blame a man for looking though."

Reid sighed and dug through Morgan's clothes. He was going to need to go shopping. There were only so many sweatpant and t-shirt combinations he could handle.

"Spencer!"

"What do you want Desiree?" Morgan shouted back through the closed door.

"Spencer got a letter, come on, open the door!"

Reid laughed as Derek made a show of just opening the door a crack and grabbing the letter before Desiree could say anything else. Spencer loved watching the interactions between Derek and his sisters. It was something he had never experienced.

"Is Spencer Reid getting love letters?" Morgan held the letter up, as if trying to see through the envelope, "should I be jealous?"

Spencer grabbed the letter from Morgan's hand and immediately recognized the writing, "it's from my mother."

"Hmm, well then I hope it's not a love letter."

Reid play shoved Morgan, "go do something useful."

Morgan held his hands up in surrender, "I'll go get us some food. Don't take too long, Desiree might have a fit."

Reid had already started opening the envelope when Derek left the room. He took out the letter and unfolded it. It was hand-written, the letters were shaky, but it was clearly his mothers words.

_Spencer,_

_Spencer dear, I hope you are doing well. I do hope this letter gets to you, postal services can be so unreliable nowaday. They're making me take my meds here, you know how I hate those. They say it will help but it just makes everything so foggy. I've had a lot of time to read here, I hope you are keeping up on your reading too. It's very important for you to continue to challenge yourself with that mind you have. I'm glad I found where you were staying, it's good you have friends you can stay with. Be sure to tell Mrs. Morgan I appreciate what she is doing. One of your teachers came to visit me here. His name was Steven P. Rains. He was very insistent on the middle initial, I'm not sure why. He's a very interesting man, I'm glad he was able to tell me where you were staying so I could send this letter. He said you were doing well in school. _

_Well, I should go now. Steven has come to visit again. I hope to see you soon Spencer._

_-Diana _

When Spencer finished reading the letter he gripped it in his hand. He read it again. Who was Steven P. Rains? He didn't have a teacher by that name. Why would someone be visiting his mother?

"Hey, Spencer?"

Reid looked up and saw Morgan standing in the doorway with his cellphone in his hand, "Aaron just called an emergency meeting."

Reid nodded, "I think that's a good idea."

XXX

When they got to Emily's a half hour later everyone else was there. They were sitting in the basement in the same spots as before.

"It's like a club," Morgan said.

"Some sort of club," Emily snorted.

"Okay guys," Aaron said, "it seems like we've gotten a few new pieces of information in the past few hours."

Aaron explained the key card he had found in the woods and then JJ showed them the letter and bottle of pills.

"Wait," Spencer said, "Steven P. Rains? That was the name?"

"Yeah," JJ said, "we think it's some sort of alias the killer is using, Penelope searched the name and didn't come up with anything."

"My mother sent me a letter," Spencer said, "she said one of my teachers, a Steven P. Rains, had visited her and told her where I was."

"So we know we were right about one thing," Emily said, "this guy _is _a teacher."

"Just not one of the four we thought before," Reid added.

"So we have a key card for the high school and the name Steven P. Rains. How is this going to help us?" Emily asked.

"Does anyone have a piece of paper and a pen?" Reid looked around.

JJ ripped one out of her notebook and handed it to him along with a pen. Spencer took it and wrote out the name Steven P Rains in all capitals. "The name could be some sort of anagram," he said, "there has to be some reason he is using it."

"Hey Spence?" JJ asked, "Could you go talk to your mom? Maybe she could ID this guy for us."

He looked at his watch, "I mean I could try, I'm not sure if she'll be able to..."

"All we ask is that you try," Aaron said.

"Okay," Reid stood up and slung his bag over his shoulder. He should have already visited his mother. He convinced her to commit herself and he just left her there. He abandoned her.

"Wait, Reid," Emily handed him her school yearbook from last year, "use this."

He tucked the book in his bag and left the room. He felt an arm go around his shoulder and turned to see Derek walking next to him. He smiled and leaned into his shoulder.

XXX

Spencer sat in a chair across from his mother. She was gazing out the window seemingly unaware that he was there.

"Mom?" he asked, leaning forward.

She turned and looked at him, "oh Spencer! It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too, how do you like it here?"

"You're too skinny Spencer," she looked him up and down, "have you been eating enough?"

"I'm fine mom, but I have a question for you. You said a man name Steven P. Rains came to talk to you. Could you tell me what he looks like?"

"He's your teacher Spencer, don't be silly."

"Mom, I need you to listen to me, okay?" Reid spoke softly, he took out the yearbook and opened it to the staff page, "was it any of these men? Can you point Steven out?"

"What's going on Spencer?" Diane looked at him.

"It's nothing mom, can you just look at the pictures?"

"I don't understand why you're asking me to do this. He's your teacher, you should know what he looks like."

"Mom, I think this man may have told you a different name."

"Why would he do that?" She exclaimed. "Are you in trouble Spencer?"

"The pictures, please," he needed her to look at them before she got too worked up.

She sighed and took the yearbook from him. She flipped through the pages, glancing at each of the photos. "I don't see him. Now are you going to explain what's going on?"

"It's nothing for you to worry about. I don't want you talking to this man again though."

"Who is he? Why can't I talk to him?"

"I should go now mom, I love you." Reid stood up from the chair.

"I don't want to stay here any longer Spencer," Diane said.

"Just a little bit longer, just until this is over."

"Until what is over? You keep talking like this Spencer. What's going on? I am your mother."

"Don't worry about it."

"Don't tell me not to worry!" She shouted, "I worry about you Spencer! All this secrecy, it's not good!"

"I've gotta go mom, I'll come visit again soon," Spencer slipped out of the room before his mom could respond.

**Who is Steven P. Rains? **


	23. Chapter 23- Derek

**I hope everyone is having a great weekend! Why not take a minute to review? :) **

"She didn't recognize any of the pictures," Derek said when they got back to Emily's.

"But like I said," Reid added, "my mother is not the most reliable witness."

"But what if she's right?" Garcia asked, she was already typing on her computer.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, assuming we weren't wrong about the other things, you know, missing the teacher workshop day, being single, then we should have gotten his name, right?" Garcia asked, not looking up from the computer.

"Well, yeah," Reid said.

"Well what if we weren't looking in the right place?"

"What are you talking about?" JJ asked, "I thought you got all of the information from the school."

Morgan watched as Garcia typed furiously.

"That's what I thought," she said, still looking down at the computer.

"Talk to us Penelope," Morgan said.

She looked up and started to explain, "this staff list was last updated in June. That means it wouldn't have any new teachers on it. The yearbook Spencer showed his mom was from last year. That's why we missed the guy."

"He's a new teacher," Morgan shook his head in disbelief, "you astound me, Garcia."

"Get used to it," she smirked.

"That fits with the timeline of the killings," Reid said.

"Now all I have to do is figure out who all of the new teachers are and we can look at them," Garcia went back to furiously typing.

Morgan sat on a couch and leaned back. He was glad to finally have another lead. They were getting close, he could feel it.

He looked around the room to see what the others were doing. "Where's Emily?" Morgan asked, "she's gonna be pissed that we figured this out without her."

Aaron laughed, "she was mad enough when she remembered she had to help tutor French after school."

"Ha," Morgan said, "how'd they get her to do that?"

"For her mother it was either do that or get an actual job. She chose tutoring."

"Okay," Garcia said, "I found a list of new teachers. Let me go through these now. Okay... taking out women and married men," she bit her lip in concentration, "give me a minute."

Morgan looked around the room as they waited. It was hard to believe that just a week ago he had been sneaking around the woods. He had been hiding his relationship with Spencer. A week ago felt like years ago.

He turned and looked at Spencer. He was looking away so Derek just saw his profile. Did it really take a serial killer to show Derek how much he loved Spencer? Was that really the push he needed to come out as who he was?

How had he gone so long hiding it? Pretending to be someone else?

He had been afraid of what some football kids would say. But as he looked at Spencer he couldn't believe how lucky he was. Not just to find a guy as amazing as Spencer was, but someone that stuck by him. Someone who could see past his fears.

"Okay, I think I found him," Garcia announced, "this guy didn't exist until last May."

"What do you mean 'didn't exist'?" JJ asked.

"There's nothing. No credit card history, no criminal record, nothing. And then in June he moves here, buys a house, and gets hired at the school," Garcia explained.

"So the guy's using a fake identity?" Morgan clarified.

"Just about as fake as a barbie doll," Garcia said.

"Okay, what's his name?" Aaron asked.

Garcia scrolled up the page, "It's Alexander Moreau."

"Moreau?" Aaron sat up.

"You know the guy?" Morgan asked.

"That's Emily's French teacher," he breathed out.

"Aaron..."

Hotch froze, staring at Garcia, his eyes unmoving. He didn't breathe.

JJ spoke, "should we call the police?"

"And tell them what?" Reid asked, "We know who the serial killer is, it's our teacher, we have no evidence, but we're pretty sure we're right."

Suddenly Hotch sprung into action, "Morgan, you and JJ go to this guy's house. If he isn't there break in and see what you can find. I'll go to the school and get Emily. Reid, you stay here with Garcia and see if you can figure out this guy's real identity. Come on guys, if he thinks Emily knows she could be in danger."

Aaron lept up and hurried down the hall, pulling out his phone and typing Emily a message as he went. Derek and JJ followed close behind him. They both got in Derek's car and sped down the street to the address Garcia had given them.

Derek parked down the street from Moreau's house. The yard was unkempt, paint peeled off the two story house, and the windows were dirty.

"His car isn't here," JJ observed.

They got out of the car and began moving toward his house. "What're we going to do," JJ asked, "knock?"

"I don't know..." Morgan shook his head, "it doesn't look like he's here."

"Are we gonna risk it?"

"I think we have to."

As they approached the front windows Derek peered inside but his view was obstructed by the curtains that hung on the other side. It appeared as if the lights were off and there was no obvious noise coming from inside.

"JJ, I'm going to go in and look around. If I'm not back in three minutes, call 911, okay?"

JJ nodded as Derek tried the door. It was locked as he had expected and so were the windows. Derek glanced back at the abandoned street and prayed aloud, "please don't have an alarm." He opened the screen door, took a deep breath, and kicked the wood door. It slammed forward and Derek waited a moment to see if anyone would come.

"Three minutes," he whispered and then walked into the house.

He quickly cleared the house and went back to get JJ.

"What are we looking for?" She asked.

"Any evidence that he's our guy."

The house appeared like that of any average man. The refrigerator was mostly empty, his closet was full of jeans, dress pants, and dress shirts. There wasn't much in the house. Derek didn't find a gun or a knife, no murder weapon. There weren't any pictures, no recordings, nothing written.

"Derek!" JJ shouted from downstairs.

Morgan ran down the stairs and met her in the living room. He followed her eyes out the window to the backyard and could just barely see a shed. The yard ran into the woods and the shed was just beneath a layer of trees.

He met JJ's eyes and they stepped out the back door and walked down the porch. They jogged across the dead grass. Derek's heart was beating out of his chest as they neared the shed. They slowed as they approached it and then Derek was standing in front of the door.

Derek felt the door, it was locked. He tried to kick it in, but it didn't budge. He spotted a covered window in the upper corner of the shed. With a large stone from the ground he broke the window and the glass shattered inside.

"I can't get through that window JJ..." he looked at her.

JJ looked up at the window, then looked over at Derek and nodded. He helped boost her up and heard her land on the other side. He could hear her working with the lock on the other side and moments later the door opened.

Derek stepped inside. It was dark and damp. JJ found a lamp in the corner and turned it on. With just the faint lights they began to look around the shed. It was small with a table at one end. The table was empty other than a toolbox.

Derek walked around the side of the shed, looking in every corner and examining everything. If this was their guy he hadn't found anything to prove it yet. He walked across the floor but stopped when he heard something beneath him. He looked down and saw the rug. He quickly moved it and revealed a hatch.

Morgan undid the locks the kept it closed and pulled it open. The stench was the first this that hit him. There was a small ladder leading down. He held his breath and climbed down. The area beneath the shed was small. There were chains on the floor and blood on the walls. There was another table, this one with knives and a gun.

His phone rang and Morgan jumped. He then pulled it out and answered, "Morgan."

"Is he there?" Aaron asked.

"No... oh God Aaron, he's the guy. You need to see this place. We should call the cops..."

"Derek," Aaron interrupted him, "he has her."

"What?" Derek stopped.

"Emily isn't here, neither is he, but her car is still in the parking lot. He has her, oh God," Aaron rambled.

"It's going to be okay," Derek said, "we are going to find her."


	24. Chapter 24- Penelope

**This is a short one, but I hope you enjoy :) **

"He kidnapped her?" Garcia exclaimed.

"Penelope," Derek warned, he glanced over at Aaron and then back to her, "maybe. We can't find her and Moreau is gone. JJ and I called the cops. We didn't leave our names, but they have to know he's the killer by now. Aaron called Agent Rossi and told him about Emily."

"What are we going to do?" Aaron asked, pacing back and forth in the basement, "we can't just sit here. We don't even know if the police know anything!"

"Aaron," Derek put his hand on Hotch's shoulder, "take a breath man. We are not giving up. We will find her."

Garcia sat frozen. He had Emily. It was too crazy a concept to even imagine. But she knew she had to push all of her fear away, she needed to concentrate to find her.

"You guys," Reid said, "I've been playing with the name Steven P. Rains, thinking it may be an anagram, and I keep coming up with the same thing."

He set the piece of paper on the table between all of them. Beneath the name Steven P. Rains printed in all caps was: EVAN PRENTISS.

"Prentiss?" Garcia gasped.

"Her dad?" JJ asked.

Garcia followed Aaron with her eyes as he continued to pace back and forth. He brought his hand to his face and then brought it down.

"You guys... everyone, _stop._"

Garcia stared at Morgan who was facing the group. His face was firm and his eyes intense. He looked around at everyone in the room, "we are not helping Emily right now."

"What are we supposed to do?" JJ asked.

"Profile." Everyone looked at Reid, "We know who it is. Driving around looking won't help unless we know where he took her. We need to profile, look at this guy. He's Emily's dad, where would he take her? Why does he want her? When we can answer those questions, we will be able to find her."

Garcia quickly sat back down at her computer, "I'll see what I can find on him."

Garcia zoned into her computer until the voices around her were just a murmur. The only way she could keep herself from freaking out was from working. She had to believe that what she was doing would help Emily. She had to believe everything would be okay.

When she finally had some information to report back, Garcia looked up at the group. They all looked at her expectantly.

"Okay," she stuttered, "Evan Prentiss was born in New York where he went to college and then became an investment banker. He married the ambassador, and three years later Emily was born. Two months after that the ambassador filed for divorce. Evan Prentiss moved to France and applied for citizenship. He remained a solid citizen for the next sixteen years until he ceased to exist."

"So that's probably when he created Alexander Moreau," JJ said, "he'd have the qualifications to teach a high school level French class, but he couldn't let the ambassador know that he was here."

"But why then?" Morgan asked, "He waits for sixteen years after their divorce and then comes back to where they live and starts killing women that look like his ex-wife?"

"Garcia," Reid said, "look for something that happened right before he created his other identity."

Garcia started looking through any documents she could find on him. It was hard not looking for something specific. She felt like she was blindly searching, and only some pure luck would help her. She looked at everything. His job, house, family, everything.

"You guys," she said, "I don't see anything. He had a good job, good house, his parents had already been dead..."

"Someone doesn't just _start killing_," Aaron hissed.

"Wait," Garcia's voice went up an octave, "one month before Evan Prentiss disappeared and Moreau was created, Ambassador Prentiss was stationed in France."

"So after living in France for sixteen years, creating a new life for himself, his ex-wife shows up and reminds him of everything she put him through. He comes to the US when she moves back, then he begins to kill women as surrogates of her. But why hasn't he killed her yet?" Morgan asked.

"It's about control," Reid said quickly, "and fear. That's why he didn't kill us. He wants to show her that he is in control, and he wants to make her suffer like she made him suffer. Killing her right away wouldn't accomplish that."

"It's her," Aaron whispered, "it's Emily."

"What?" JJ gasped.

"She took Emily away from him with the divorce, so now he is taking Emily away from her mother."


	25. Chapter 25- Emily

**Hopefully this chapter is worth the wait :) Let me know what you think! I really appreciate reviews!**

"What the hell?" Emily muttered. She brought her hand to where her head was pounding. When she brought it back, her hand was sticky. It was too dark to see, but she knew it was blood.

She tried to move, but there wasn't enough space. She was bumped around in the darkness and the air was thick. She forced herself to take even breaths. Freaking out wasn't going to do her any good. She needed to think, she needed to figure out where she was and how she got there.

As her eyes began to adjust to the darkness she recognized she was in a trunk. Emily kicked at the door, trying to get it to pop open. When it didn't budge she looked around frantically for any type of tool, but the whole area had been cleaned out.

Her heart began to beat faster and her hands became clammy when she realized she wasn't getting out of the trunk. Emily continued to kick at the trunk door in a futile attempt that only left her out of breath and with sweat dripping down her face.

When she finally let her feet drop to the floor a sound of fear escaped her mouth. She was trying to remember what happened, how she had gotten there, but everything was a blur. She had a feeling that had to do with the wound on her head.

She remembered going to school to tutor some kids, she stayed after to talk to Mr. Moreau about a trip to France that was coming up, and then he offered to walk her to her car. The last thing she remembered was walking out of the school into the parking lot. She could see her car and suddenly she fell to her knees and everything faded.

Nothing was coming clear to her mind. French tutoring, Mr. Moreau, her pounding head, the parking lot, the blood.

Then the car squealed to a stop and a moment later Emily could hear a door slam shut and footsteps approach the back. She held her breath as the key fumbled with the lock until suddenly the trunk opened. The light blinded her and Emily blinked rapidly, trying to regain control of herself.

A hand grabbed her arm and she fought it, she kicked at the man and swung her legs offensively. But she was too vulnerable and he tightened his grip on her arms.

"Stop fighting or I will tie you up."

Emily froze when she heard the voice. She looked up, her eyes finally adjusted, and saw Mr. Moreau. This was one of the few times she had heard him speak English, and it sounded so foreign coming from his lips.

"You," she breathed out, "you're the killer." Suddenly her mind became clear. He had gotten her alone after school, knocked her out, and put her in his trunk.

"Come on," he kept his hand on her upper arm and pulled her out of the trunk. Without letting her go, he led her down a path.

When Emily looked around she didn't recognize where she was. It was the woods somewhere. Overgrown plants spilled onto the small dirt path and they scratched her legs as he forced her forward.

"Why are you doing this?" Her voice shook as they moved forward.

Mr. Moreau didn't respond and somehow the silence was worse.

"What are you going to do to me?" Emily's voice rose, "Rape me? Torture me? Kill me?" By the last word she was shouting.

Mr. Moreau unlocked the door of a cabin, walked Emily inside, and locked it behind them. He let go of her arm and she ran to the other side of the empty building.

"Emily," he spoke softly.

"You son of a bitch," she shouted, "you son of a bitch!"

"Emily, calm down," his tone was firm, like he was speaking to a child misbehaving in class.

Emily began to walk forward, her emotions clouding her rational judgement, "why don't you just get on with it! You're the serial killer. My fucking French teacher is the serial killer!" She spoke more to herself than him, "I should have figured it out."

"Emily."

"Here," she walked up to him, "wanna slit my throat? Fine. Here it is, nice and ready for you."

Mr. Moreau brought his hand back and slapped Emily across the cheek. She sunk back, her hand to her cheek, the physical pain bringing her back to the reality of what was happening. Suddenly she moved away, her eyes fearful.

"I don't want to kill you," Mr. Moreau said slowly.

"Why not?" Emily whispered.

He sighed. "Emily..." he trailed off, "there are some things you don't know."

"What are you talking about," the words barely left her mouth.

Mr. Moreau reached to his pocket and took out a photograph. He unfolded it, handing it to Emily. She stared at it, but didn't approach his hand.

"Just look at it," he said, "it will explain everything."

Emily took the photograph from his hand quickly and when she looked at it the air left her body.

"You," she looked at him, "you're- you're my-"

"I'm your father."

Emily looked back down to the picture she held in her hand. It was Mr. Moreau and her mother, standing next to each other and smiling as they looked down at a dark haired baby– her.

Emily wiped the tears from her eyes, "what? Why–?"

"Your mother sent me away after you were born. I got nothing. I didn't even get to see you."

"But those women, why did you kill them?"

He looked Emily in the eye but didn't answer her question, "I need you to do something for me."

"No! No way!" Tears threatened to spill over.

He took a step forward, "You are going to listen to me very closely," his voice hardened, "we are going to go to the State Capitol and you are going to get your mother for me. Tell her you came from school and need something, tell her whatever you want, but bring her to me."

"Why would I do that?" Emily whispered, "You'll kill her."

"Well," Mr. Moreau began to smile, "just think of it like this." He took out his phone, pressed a few buttons, and handed it to Emily. She stared down at it and saw them. She saw all of them. Aaron, Penelope, JJ, Spencer, and Derek. They all sat in her basement. They were speaking, but she couldn't hear their words. Aaron was pacing and Garcia was trying not to cry. Emily's throat caught.

She slowly looked up. This man, her father, didn't care about her. His soft words, his talk of missing her, it was all a ruse. He had planted cameras when he broke into her house. Everything, all of this, had been about her mother. The women he had killed, all surrogates for her, and this, he had kidnapped Emily to get to her. He was using her.

Now she had to choose between her mother and friends.

Choose between the only family she had ever known. Her blood. Her mom. Between that and her friends. The only ones who had ever cared for her. Loved her. Accepted her.

She needed to stall for time. Figure something out. She couldn't let her friends die, but she also couldn't lead her mother to the slaughterhouse. She had to find a way to save them all. There had to be a way.

She blinked back her tears, cleared her throat, and set her face to stone. "Okay," she said, "I will do it." Her voice was clear and strong.

"Let's go," he smiled.

They walked to the car together and he opened the front seat for her. "If you try to escape, you know what will happen."

The ride was bumpy and long and Emily tried to form a plan. How could she contact her friends, get them safe? How could she save her mother?

They pulled up in front of the State Capitol before she had anything workable. "Remember, just go find Elizabeth, and bring her here."

Emily said nothing, just opened the car door and stepped out.

"Wait," Mr. Moreau stopped her, "don't forget your backpack." He handed it to her and smiled as she slid it on her back.

Emily stepped into the sunlight and looked across the street. There the Capitol stood. It was large, fancy, and superior. It was the living embodiment of her mother. At a break in traffic she crossed the street and pulled open a heavy door.

The inside was full of people, hurrying around, holding papers. They spoke on cellphones and read emails on their tablets. Emily walked up to a desk and after a moments a gray haired lady noticed her.

"I'm Emily Prentiss," she tried to keep her voice steady, "I'm here to see my mother, the Ambassador."


	26. Chapter 26- Aaron

**I'd love to hear what you think!**

"Something's not right," Morgan shook his head.

"What are you thinking?" Spencer asked.

"Moreau wants to take everything away from the ambassador. Her everything is not Emily. She doesn't give a damn about her own daughter!"

"So what then?" Garcia asked.

"Her job," Aaron answered, "the most important thing in the ambassador's life is not Emily, it's her job."

Aaron thought about this. There were so many nights Emily spent alone because her mother had work. She was at meetings, conferences, and in other countries around the world. There was the house cleaner and the ambassador's assistant that would be around occasionally, but for the most part, Emily was alone.

Emily usually just resorted to bitter comments, never showing how much it truly bothered her. She claimed to enjoy the time alone, but it was clear she would have preferred a normal family. Whenever Emily made comments about her mother not caring, Aaron always countered. 'Of course she loves you, she's your mom', 'she's just busy', he would say. She shrugged noncommittally, and the conversation was dropped.

It had never occurred to Aaron that there may have been more truth to those comments than he thought.

"Then why take Emily?" JJ asked.

Everyone was quiet as they thought.

"He must need her for something," Reid said, "he could be using her to get the ambassador."

"Emily told me this morning her mom was going to work," Aaron said, the words coming out slow while he simultaneously tried to think, "so she's at the State Capitol now, in the city."

Aaron had never been inside the Capitol before, but he had seen it from the outside. It was in a city a half hours drive from their town. A lot of the adults who lived in the town worked there, it was the only city a reasonable distance from their small town.

"So he could be using Emily to get the ambassador out of the Capitol. No one would question it if Emily went inside looking for her mother, but it would be difficult for Moreau to get to her," Reid said.

"It still doesn't make sense," Aaron shook his head, "why get her from the Capitol to kill her when he could just do it while she was at home?"

"It could be another show of power, that he could get her at work," Morgan suggested.

"No, we said the most important thing in her life is her job, then he is going to do something big. Something that not only hurts the ambassador, but also hurts the Capitol. That's why he's doing it there." Reid said.

"Wait," Garcia said, "oh god." Her face was stricken as she stared at her computer.

"Garcia, what is it?" Aaron asked.

"When I- when I said Moreau reinvented himself, I meant it. He went back to college and got a degree in chemistry," Garcia's voice caught, "he did research involving non-metallic, time-sensitive explosives."

"So what," JJ asked, "he's using Emily to bomb the Capitol?"

Aaron had been sitting there, his eyes narrow, staring at Garcia's computer, when suddenly he burst into action. "Morgan and JJ, go to the Police station. Find Agent Rossi and tell him what is happening. _Make _him believe you. Reid and I will go straight to the Capitol and try to find Emily. Garcia, you stay here, we may need your help, so be ready."

Everyone stared at him.

"There is a bomb in the Capitol and Emily probably has no idea she is carrying it!" Aaron shouted, he was now standing and waiting for the others to follow him.

They followed him upstairs and got in their cars. Reid sat in his passenger seat as Aaron reversed the car and then slammed on the gas once they were on the street. Aaron couldn't stop thinking of Emily as he got onto the highway going way too fast.

The first time they met, their first date, a secret from everyone, the first time he went to her house. Her cold and empty house.

She was the strongest person he knew. Stronger than him or any adult. But sometimes that strength was a hindrance. She never asked for help or showed any pain. He had gotten better at reading her over the past year, he knew many of her tells, but he always knew there was something he was missing.

"Aaron, turn here," Reid said, "it will get us there faster."

Hotch took a sharp right and got off the highway. He followed Reid's directions down the streets, he turned left and right, trying to think of what they would do once they reached the Capitol.

Finally, what felt like ages later, he could see the large building. As he drove down the street looking for somewhere to park, something caught his eye.

"That's him," he nodded at the car to their right, "that's Moreau."

Moreau was sitting across the street parked in his car, staring at the large building. He was right there. The man who had murdered all of those women. The man who had sent them letters, threatened them, and broke into their homes. The man who had taken Emily.

And there wasn't a goddamn thing he could do about it.


	27. Chapter 27- JJ

**Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews, I'd love to hear more :)**

JJ stared out of the window as they drove through the town to the police station. She couldn't believe this was happening, any of it really. They were teenagers. They were supposed to be worried about school, boys, parents, and friends. Not _this_.

The sun was going down and shadows began to cover the street. Morgan pulled the car into the parking lot and JJ got out. She was so focused on getting to the Police Department and finding Agent Rossi that she didn't even see the group of boys approach them.

"Hey there Derek, you've been missing a lot of football practice lately," one of them walked up until he was a foot from Morgan.

"Sorry guys," he tried to wave them off, "I've just been really busy."

When he tried to walk around the boy blocking his path, he was shoved back.

"With that little queer, Spencer?"

"I don't want any trouble, guys."

JJ could see Morgan bite his cheek and set his jaw. She knew him, and any other time he would have thrown a punch, but they both understood that this was too important. They had to get help.

"Yeah, well you're going to get some," the boy closest to him brought his fist back and punched him in the gut.

"We're in front of the police department!" JJ yelled, "Just leave him alone!"

"Do you really think the police give a damn about some black faggot?"

JJ saw as a fist connected with Morgan's face and he stumbled back. He put his hands up defensively, but another punch hit him in the same place.

JJ ran forward and tried to do something to help. She pushed one of the boys away, but he shoved her back.

"Go," Morgan hissed at her, "I can handle this."

JJ took a step back and looked at the station, then Derek. She knew what she had to do, but it didn't mean she felt good about it. As she turned and ran toward the station she could hear shouts and grunts. She flinched, but kept going.

When she got into the police station, she was panting. "I need to talk to Agent Rossi," her words came out in short bursts.

The woman at the front desk looked up slowly, "what is this regarding?"

"Tell him JJ is here from the woods, and that she has information," by now she was frustrated, the woman didn't seem to understand how important this was, "go!" she shouted.

The woman gave her another look, but then stood up and wandered out of the room.

Five minutes later the door opened again and Agent Rossi walked out. "What can I help you with?" He asked.

"I know I'm just a kid," JJ started, "but you have to believe me, okay? Because this is really important, and if you don't believe me, people are going to die."

"Okay, you've got my attention. What do you know?"

"He's going to bomb the State Capitol."

"Excuse me?" Rossi's eyes narrowed.

JJ took a deep breath and and tried to slow down. She knew she wasn't making any sense now. She needed to explain this, she needed to make him believe her. "We figured out who the serial killer was."

"How did you do that?"

"That's not important," JJ said, "but his name is Alexander Moreau, he's a French teacher at the high school. But that name is just an alias. He is actually Evan Prentiss. He used to be married to Ambassador Prentiss, and he's Emily's dad. He kidnapped her and we think he brought her to the State Capitol. He wants to bomb it."

Rossi took a deep breath. "Come with me JJ." He led her out of the narrow entrance into the inside of the police department. It was small, with only a few desks, but he brought her back to a conference room that had pictures from the crime scenes taped to a large board.

Rossi sat down and looked back at her, "so, you are telling me that you guys, I'm assuming the ones who found the body, figured this out?"

JJ nodded.

"Okay, so a group of six teenagers figured this out. You were able to find out Moreau was an alias and now you think this man is going to bomb the State Capitol?" He leaned back in his chair.

JJ could sense he didn't believe her. She needed to do something. "Spencer has an eidetic memory and can figure out any puzzle he is given, Penelope can get any information that is on the internet, Aaron knows how to organize this group and knows what we need to do next, Derek will do anything to help someone he cares about, and Emily is smart and independent. She is in the middle of this. Her mother is the Ambassador and she has been kidnapped," JJ stared at him, "We are not just six teenagers."

"And what about you?" Rossi asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Where do you fit in? You told me about everyone else."

"I am the one who is going to make you believe us," JJ said firmly.

Rossi nodded, "we already knew it was Moreau, we were tipped off by an anonymous tip that you probably have some idea about. We figured out Moreau was an alias, but we hadn't yet figured out who he was."

"Do you believe me?" JJ asked.

"You've just confirmed many of my suspicions and I know this is not a risk I am willing to take." Rossi stood up and from the entrance of the conference room called for a detective.

He stepped out of the room, but JJ could hear him speak. " Get a SWAT team from the city to meet us at the State Capitol. Get a BOLO out for Alexander Moreau, but get the word out not to approach him. If he thinks we are onto him, he could set off the bomb. Also, there may be a hostage involved, her name is Emily Prentiss."

JJ let out a breath she had been holding all day. Someone believed them. Someone was doing something.

Then she turned and ran out of the building ignoring whatever Agent Rossi was shouting behind her. She needed to find Derek.


	28. Chapter 28- Spencer

**Happy Halloween everybody! Here is a nice long chapter for you to read as you eat Halloween candy tonight :) And you get to figure out how Emily, Reid, and Garcia became friends... enjoy! **

Headlights led the way as cars rushed down the street in front of them. And despite the bright lights from the surrounding buildings, everything felt dark. There were so many people walking down the streets. The area was full of restaurants, shops, and apartments.

So many people with lives, families, and lovers. So many people expecting to live full lives. So many people oblivious to what was happening.

They walked unaware. Busy on their phones, chatting with their friends, and staring into shops. Making plans for the future. Getting ready for tomorrow.

Spencer and Aaron stood across the street from the Capitol, waiting for a break in traffic to cross. As they stood there Spencer couldn't help but think of himself and Emily and everyone else as he stared at those people. He tried to imagine what was going to happen. What the outcome of the night would be.

And as he continued to think of Emily inside that building with a bomb, he was amazed that they had been friends for over two years. Some days it felt like they had been friends forever, and others is felt like it was just yesterday they were talking over pancakes.

It had been best day of his life but had started out as the worst...

_Spencer leaned back against his locker, he wiped his hand against his mouth and it came back smeared with blood. His body ached. He had been the school punching bag ever since they were old enough to know he was different. _

_It was a cool fall afternoon and he was dreading going home. He just wanted a minute without responsibility, and then he immediately felt bad. He loved his mother, he truly loved her. _

_He wiped a stray tear from his eye, at least this time he hadn't let them see him cry._

"_Spencer?"_

_His head shot up, looking to see who had spoken to him. It was Emily Prentiss. She was wearing dark wash jeans and a long sleeve black shirt. Standing next to her was Penelope Garcia whose hair was in low pigtails and wore a yellow dress with an orange sweater. _

_He knew who they were because he knew everyone in the school. But he hadn't thought they knew him._

_He looked at them cautiously, unsure of what they wanted._

_Emily stared at him for a moment, assessing him. Then she opened her mouth and spoke again, "are you alright?"_

_Spencer nodded quickly, "I'm fine."_

_But Emily didn't take her eyes off of him. "Garcia and I are going to Ruby's Diner, want to come?"_

"_I should probably go home, I have a lot to do..."_

"_You _have _to come!" Garcia spoke for the first time. "They have these new pumpkin pancakes that are supposed to be just fabulous and they have coffee and hot chocolate and cider, and it's just perfect for a day like today!" _

"_I don't know..." He shrugged._

"_There's really no point arguing," Emily smiled, "once Penelope has it in her mind something's going to happen, there's nothing you can do to stop it."_

_And that was how he ended up sitting across from Emily and Penelope in a booth at Ruby's Diner. It was an old fashioned diner that specialized in burgers, shakes, and breakfast food. Garcia had ordered them a huge stack of pumpkin pancakes to share and Reid got himself a coffee. _

_While they waited for the food to come Garcia started talking. Reid only half listened to her story about a fight she had gotten into with her parents. He was still in somewhat of a daze. _

"_So," Emily said casually, looking at Reid, "what happened?"_

_Spencer's hand went instinctively to his face, "nothing."_

_Emily nodded and didn't press any further. _

"_So Spencer," Garcia said, "what do you like to do?"_

"_Umm," Reid started, "I guess I like to read mostly." He looked up cautiously. Reading was a lame thing to say, he should have said something better._

"_I love reading too," Emily smiled, "nothing like a good book to take you to another world."_

"_I read too," Garcia cut in._

"_Yeah, the internet," Emily snorted._

"_Words are words!" She said defensively. _

_Emily ignored her, "you tutor after school, right?"_

"_Uh, yeah." Ried's eyebrows came together, how did she know that?_

_Emily sensed his question, "I tutor French, I've seen you around."_

"_Oh."_

_The waitress came back with their food and sat down a large plate piled high with pancakes. She handed each of them an empty plate and gave them their drinks. It was quiet for a few minutes as they started eating. _

"_So, are you guys in a lot of classes together?" Reid asked._

"_A few," Emily nodded, "we actually met in our government class freshman year." _

"_Can I tell the story?" Garcia turned to her, suddenly excited._

"_He doesn't want to hear it."_

"_What story?" Reid asked._

_He could hear Emily groan as Penelope started to talk, "okay, so like Emily said, we met in our government class. I didn't really know her, you know, we hung out in different groups."_

"_Groups meaning by ourselves," Emily muttered._

"_Shh, you're ruining the story," Garcia snapped. "Okay, so back to it. We are put in a group for a project on the Judicial Branch. We are with this other kid, Tim, and the tree of us come up with a plan to meet up that afternoon._

"_Tim doesn't show up, so the next day we tell him that Emily's mom got us an interview with a judge and we're going the next day. So Tim doesn't show up _again, _and Emily and I go do the interview alone. It was actually pretty interesting, but that's not the point." _

_Garcia took a break to eat a bite of pancakes before she began again, "this kid Tim continues to do nothing, so together Emily and I make a powerpoint and figure out what we're going to talk about. She tells me to give an overview of the judicial system, and she'll write something for her and Tim to say."_

_Garcia had to compose herself before talking again, "so we're in class for our presentation. Our powerpoint is pulled up and I give my speech, and then Emily hers, and then Tim starts talking. He's clearly just reading off of a piece of paper Emily had typed for him. _

"_He's talking about the interview and tell the class, 'Judge Nielsen has executed six men herself', and 'she believes that court should be an informal environment, so she wears her pajama robe during trials'. It's like he didn't hear what he was saying! And kids in the class are starting to snicker and then Tim says, 'due to an affair with G. Washington, she is stepping down from her role as judge'._

"_Everyone in the class starts laughing and looking at our teacher. He asks Tim where he got this information because it is not only inaccurate, but also disrespectful. _

"_So Emily takes a step forward, 'That would be from me', she said. 'If Tim had bothered to show up to any of our meetings or our interview, he would know just how idiotic he sounds. So there you go Tim, you're not only lazy, you're also a dumbass'._

"_The entire class is laughing and Tim's face is bright red. Emily just walks back to her seat and sits down. I hurry next to her and I'm just staring at her. 'I don't like slackers', she shrugs. It was just perfect." Garcia had started laughing all over again._

_Emily smirked, "I don't." _

"_And that," Garcia took another bite of pancakes, "is how we became friends."_

_And as Reid sat there, laughing at the story, he thought that maybe one day he would be able to tell a story like that. That over pumpkin pancakes and coffee he had made his first friends. _

_And when they were leaving the diner Emily had stopped him. She looked directly into his eyes, "the next time anyone messes with you, you tell me, and we will go kick their asses together." _

It was Emily in there. His best friend.

His heart was beating exponentially faster than normal. He was sweating and his knees shook. He thought that he might drop then and there, unable to hold himself, but he couldn't. He knew he couldn't.

There was so much at stake.

Emily had been there for him ever since that day. She wasn't perfect by any means, but neither was he. But everything about her, her humor, anger, intelligence, and bitterness, that was everything that had made them so close.

"We're running out of time," Aaron hissed and suddenly he ran forward. He didn't wait for the cars to stop, just thrust his body in front of them. He ran ahead, yelling at Spencer to follow him. Reid, wide eyed, followed, trying not to think of the busy road.

Tires squealed as cars stopped just feet from them and their horns blared. Reid sprinted, his feet pounding against the pavement. He was out of breath when he found Aaron inside of the Capitol.

They passed through the metal detectors and were then in the heart of the Capitol.

"Do you know where we're going?" Reid asked, looking around the large building. Grand staircases were on either side of them allowing traffic to go to levels both higher and lower. Men and women hurried down the halls, their shoes clicking, trying to finish up their work for the day so they could go home.

Aaron's brows furrowed as he looked around the space, trying to spot something to give direction to their search. His eyes landed on a directory posted on the wall and he ran over. He spotted the Ambassador's name and pointed it out to Reid.

Ambassador Prentiss– Office 217

Reid didn't think, just ran to the stairs. Step after step he could hear Aaron right behind him. He slid around the others trudging up and down the stairs.

Reid had no idea what they were going to do when they found her. Their plan had not gotten that far. Suddenly that was all he could think of.

What would they do when the found Emily? When they found the bomb?

But then he was standing in front of Office 217 and he had run out of time. Aaron came from behind him and opened the door without waiting.

The space was small. There was a desk with a computer and a young woman sitting behind it. There was a door behind her that presumably led to the Ambassador's space.

Without acknowledging the woman, Aaron covered the space in five steps and opened the next door.

"Sir," the woman shouted behind him, "you can't go in there!"

Spencer followed behind and then there were five of them standing in the next room. Aaron, Emily, the Ambassador, the young woman, and Spencer.

The Ambassador's head snapped up, "what are you doing here?" she demanded, "Elaine?"

"I'm sorry, they just rushed in!"

Emily turned, her cheeks flushed, "what are you doing?" she hissed.

"You need to get out of here immediately," Ambassador Prentiss stepped out from behind her desk, "you have no business here."

"Emily," Aaron reached out his hand to her, "come with us."

"I– I can't," her eyes darted between her mother and Aaron, "I have to..."

"We know," Aaron nodded, his eyes narrow, "trust me."

Spencer watched Emily look back to her mother, unconsciously picking at her nails.

"Emily," Aaron repeated.

Emily swallowed, "I'll be right back mother." She turned to them and Aaron led them out of the room. The door slammed shut behind them and they could hear the Ambassador speaking sternly to Elaine.

"If I don't bring her... he's going to kill you. All of you," Emily's voice cracked.

"There's a bomb," Aaron spoke evenly.

A moments passed. "A what?"

"Open your backpack," Reid said slowly.

Emily slipped the bag off of her back and unzipped it. "Holy shit," she whispered.

"He's using you to bomb the Capitol," Aaron said.

Emily looked up and Spencer saw the fear in her eyes. The fear that slowly turned into anger and then determination. She zipped the bag and hastily threw it over her shoulders. Without saying anything she ran out of the room.

"Emily!" Aaron shouted.

They followed her out of the room in time to see her run down the stairs.

**It'd be quite a treat if you left a review :)**


	29. Chapter 29- Derek

**Hope you guys are having a good week, and if not, then I hope this will make it better :) Thanks for all of the reviews– you all rock! I would love to hear more from you! **

**And also, to everyone who has decided to participate in NaNoWriMo this November, I wish you luck! **

"Fuck," Morgan grunted as he slammed the car door behind him.

"Oh god, oh god," JJ fumbled with the car keys, trying to get them into the ignition.

"Just go, I'm fine."

The car roared to life and JJ put it into drive, "no Derek, you're not!" She glanced between him and the road.

Morgan was slumped down in the seat, one arm wrapped around his stomach and the other tentatively touching his tender face, trying to assess the damage. He felt like he was going to puke and pass out at the same time. He grimaced as he touched the bloodied area around his left eye.

He was going to kill them. He was going to kill every last fucking one of them.

He had gotten a few good swings in, but soon he was pinned to the ground and they were taking turns with their fists and their feet. Morgan had coughed up blood and tried to protect his face.

These were guys he had been friends with since he was old enough to throw a football. They had played flag football before contact. They spent grueling practices together, they all went to parties after their games together, but more than that they were a team. Or at least he had thought so.

His mind was spinning. When they were through with him they had each spat on his face. "Faggot," they had laughed.

He would kill them.

His head hurt so bad, but he kept thinking of Spencer. He and Aaron had gone to the Capitol. If they had been right, then they were in danger. He needed to protect him. In that moment outside the Police Department he had experienced what Spencer had been feeling all of his life. The pain, the fear, the anger, and the shame.

"Go to the Capitol," he grunted.

JJ glanced over at him, her eyes shimmering with tears, "you need a hospital or something. I can't– how could– oh my god," she resorted to.

"JJ, you know what we need to do," Derek gasped, "I will be okay, but they won't be."

JJ let out a nervous breath, but when Derek looked at her, he knew they were going to the Capitol. It was the same look she had had when he told her to run to the Police Station. Pained but determined. A tear slipped down her cheek and she wiped it away.

Derek had always considered him and JJ friends. But it was like he had never known what true friendship was until he met these people, until everything had happened. He called JJ a friend, yet knew nothing about her. He had called those football players friends.

It was like everything he knew had been decimated in the past week and he was left with something different. Something better. But now everything he loved was being threatened. He was going to lose what he had just learned to be good.

He couldn't let that happen.

The sun was just a sliver in the horizon and soon it would be gone, leaving them in darkness. Darkness always came early this time of year.

Derek stared out the window; JJ was speeding when she entered the highway, but the police were too busy to be concerned with two reckless teenagers. Derek's eyelids began to droop. He would rest. Just close his eyes until they got there. Then he would be ready.

_The sun rose over the city's skyline and shone through their bedroom window. Without opening his eyes, Derek reached to his side and rested his arm across Spencer's waist. _

"_Have you decided to get up yet?" Spencer laughed._

"_It's Saturday," Morgan grunted, opening his eyes slowly, "why are _you _awake?" _

"_I thought I'd do some light reading."_

_Derek looked up at the book in his hands, it must have weighed at least ten pounds. He grunted again as he sat up, "don't you get enough reading at work?"_

"_That's not for fun." He pointed out._

"_And this is?" Derek took the book from his hand and started flipping through it. Then he noticed it wasn't even in English._

"_Well," he said, closing the book, "how about a break from reading and we do something that is actually fun?" Derek tossed the book off the bed and there was a large thud as it hit the floor._

"_I have been wanting to go to the museum that just opened on 3rd."_

_Derek chuckled and shook his head, "not that sort of fun," he leaned forward and situated himself so he was leaning over Spencer, "_this _sort of fun," he whispered into his ear. _

_Spencer groaned as Morgan's strong hands held his waist and his lips met his. The kiss was urgent, Derek's tongue swiped Spencer's lower lip and he shuddered. _

_Spencer moved so he was no longer sitting up, but lying beneath Morgan who was on his knees leaning over him. Spencer brought his hands up to Derek's defined jaw and held it there, the heat between their bodies increasing. _

"_I love you Spencer," Derek whispered._

"_I love you too," Spencer responded._

_The phone began to ring but Derek ignored it. All he could think of was Spencer and how much he loved him. How lucky he was to have him in his life. He could feel Spencer's soft hands on his face._

_But the phone wouldn't stop ringing and soon he couldn't hear what Spencer was saying beneath the noise. He reluctantly answered it and heard JJ's voice on the other end._

"_Derek, it's time to go."_

"_Derek," she repeated._

"Derek, we're here. Are you okay?"

Derek opened his eyes. He was not with Spencer, it was not a lazy Saturday morning, and everything was anything but okay. Instead they were parked outside of the State Capitol and JJ was staring at him.

"We should really go to a hospital," her voice wavered.

"No," he sat up, "I'm okay. Let's go."

He tried to hide his pain as he got out of the car. They moved as fast as they could to the building, Derek clenching his teeth the entire time.

But he couldn't stop thinking of that dream, or the vision, whatever it was. Him and Spencer were going to move away. Move to a city where they could be who they were and be accepted. Spencer would go to college and probably get five doctorates in the time it took everyone else to get one, but Derek had never been quite sure of what he wanted to do.

But now he knew.

He wasn't sure exactly what it would take, but he would join the FBI. He would help people. He would protect them.


	30. Chapter 30- Penelope

**I'm SO SO SO sorry for taking so long to post! Life got in the way, but I PROMISE I won't let it happen again. I hope you are still reading and enjoy this chapter. I know it's kind of short, but I will get the next one posted soon. Please let me know what you think! **

"Someone answer me!" Garcia shouted to the empty room. She was pacing up and down the room, her cell phone in hand. Like a mantra she dialed the numbers for Emily, Spencer, Aaron, Derek, and JJ. Repeating the calls, hanging up as she heard their voices telling her to leave a message after the beep.

She didn't know where they were, if they were hurt, or even if they were still alive. If anything happened to them she didn't know what she would do. They were her friends, her people, the only ones there for her.

Garcia could still remember the first day she found out about Emily and Aaron. For weeks she thought Emily was avoiding her. When they would usually hang out after school, Emily suddenly started making excuses to get away. She always seemed to have a project, or a dinner party, or some other commitment on the weekend.

Emily never seemed mad, just busy. But after a few weeks Penelope was really starting to feel lonely. She hung out with Spencer, but she missed her girl time. So finally she told Emily she had to come over and wouldn't take no for an answer.

"_Come on Emily, what's going on?" Garcia asked the second they were in her room._

"_Nothing, I've just been busy." Emily's face betrayed nothing. _

"_Don't give me that! We have been friends for four years; we hang out after school, every friday night we watch movies, and then we suffer through our homework together. So tell me what's going on."_

_Garcia looked so intense that Emily couldn't help but let a smile slip. Penelope caught it and immediately latched on._

_Suddenly she wasn't upset or nervous, "Oh my god, it's a guy, isn't it?" She grabbed Emily's arm, her eyes lit up. _

"_I don't know what you're talking about." But Emily smiled._

"_How have you kept this from me! I thought we were best friends!" Garcia exclaimed._

"_We _are _best friends Pen, I just wanted to test things out before you got all excited."_

"_And...?"_

_Emily grinned._

"_Who is it?" She nearly pleaded. _

_Emily suddenly became hesitant. _

"_Come on, as long as he's not some ax wielding psycho, he'll be better than half the guys on TV."_

_Emily looked up, her dark eyes meeting Penelope's. "Aaron."_

_Garcia gave her a blank look._

"_Hotchner." Emily added._

_There was a moment of silence as Garcia thought. Then she spoke again, this time serious, "Is he nice to you?"_

"_Of course, Pen!" Emily exclaimed._

_But Garcia didn't let off, "he respects you? Treats you well?"_

"_Yes and yes."_

_Like a flip of a switch Garcia's demeanor changed. She jumped up, "you have to tell me all about him! And how you met, and about your dates!"_

"_Of course," Emily smiled, finally sitting down, "I wouldn't even dream of denying you that."_

_Collapsing on her bed, Garcia grinned. "Does he know that I'm still first in your life? Number one best friend?"_

"_Oh, he knows."_

Garcia couldn't believe that was only this year. It had taken a few times for Aaron to adjust to Penelope and Spencer, but soon they were friendly. They may not have been best of friends, but Garcia could see how Emily smiled when she was with him, and how he genuinely seemed to care about her.

But this, everything that was going on, had made them all closer. She could now fully understand what Emily saw in him. Now she could call Aaron her friend. The same went for Derek and JJ.

Garcia had never liked Derek. She didn't like any of the football players. She saw what they did to Spencer, the way they treated everyone like they were worthless. But when she found out he was dating Spencer, she knew she had to give him a chance. And it seemed that over these weeks he had proved himself.

She couldn't stop thinking about any of them as she continued calling everyone. She felt so powerless, unable to do anything to help the others.

And then suddenly someone answered.

Garcia wasn't even sure who she had called, but just sputtered, "are you okay?"

"Hey, Penelope," Derek's voice was low and gravelly.

"No on is answer me, and I don't know what is going on! Has anything happened? Are the others okay?"

"Hey," Morgan tried, but Garcia kept rambling. "Babygirl," his voice louder.

Garcia stopped talking and let out a squeak.

"JJ and I just got inside the Capitol. We don't know where the others are, but we're going to try and find them."

"Be safe. Please be safe."

"Don't worry, Penelope. It's going to be okay."

Suddenly a deafening noise came from the phone and Garcia nearly dropped it. "Derek?" She shouted, "Derek?"

But the line had gone dead.


	31. Chapter 31- Emily

**This quick update is me making up for that very long wait between posts. Thank you for the reviews I got on the last chapter! **

_Six teenagers walked into the woods. _

_Six teenagers who knew nothing about life, nothing about each other, and nothing about the world they lived in._

_Six teenagers walked into the woods and their lives changed forever._

Emily blinked.

Her eyes burned and she couldn't breathe. The room was full of dust, making it impossible for her to see more than a few feet in front of her. She tried to move but a sharp pain in her leg kept her on the ground.

She tried to remember what had happened. There was a dull roar in her ears that seemed to be blocking all other sound. She looked around and through the dust something caught her eye. It was the sky.

Through the veil of debris she could see the stars.

She coughed and a shooting pain went through her chest, causing her to gasp for breath. She heard something, but it was so faint behind the buzzing in her ears that she couldn't quite make it out. She turned her head to look behind her, gritting her teeth against the pain, and saw someone moving toward her.

She let out a gasp as Aaron emerged into her view. He was covered in dust and dirt, and a trickle of blood was running down from his hairline.

Everything came back to her in a flash. The bomb. Her dad. Aaron and Spencer. Her mother. The bomb...

_Emily had taken two steps down the stairs when she saw all of the people. If she couldn't get the bomb far enough away in time, they would all die. She turned and ran straight into Aaron and Spencer who were just steps behind her._

"_There isn't time," she hissed._

_Spencer glanced between her and the commotion downstairs. "Come on," he motioned. _

_They all turned and Emily and Aaron followed Spencer as he sprinted up two flights of stairs. _

"_Make sure everyone is out!" Emily shouted, turning down the hall._

"_Give me the bag Emily," Aaron said, his hand out._

"_Just go!" Emily turned and ran down the hall._

_Aaron had no choice but to follow Spencer, knocking on office doors and making sure everyone was gone. They met a few confused adults, who, after hearing the commotion that was drifting up from downstairs, hurried out of their offices. _

_Emily opened the door to a large corner office. It was empty. The two outer walls were full windows. Emily threw her backpack in the corner and tipped the desk over, pushing it in front. She moved anything she could in front of the bomb. _

_She remembered what Spencer had said, "try to cushion the blast, it shouldn't cause too much structural damage if we get it to the corner of the top floor."_

_When she had moved everything she could to block the potential explosion, she turned to run out of the room. Aaron was standing in the doorway waiting for her._

_Then there was a deafening noise and everything went black. _

Emily made another attempt to stand and gasped. She didn't look down at her leg, too afraid at what she might see. Aaron stumbled toward her, his eyes darting everywhere. He fell to his knees in front of her.

"Are you okay?"

Emily could tell he was shouting although she could barely hear him.

She nodded, "you?" She grimaced at the pain her shout had caused.

Aaron nodded and his mouth moved, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. Then suddenly she looked around. Emily braced herself for the shooting pain and shouted, "Spencer?"

Emily let out a breath when Aaron nodded.

Then suddenly Emily's body froze and she stared at Aaron. "My dad," she whispered so that not even she heard her own words. She had to get up. She had to make sure they found him. He couldn't get away with this.

Emily pushed her hands on the ground to move her body up and cried out in pain.

"Don't move!" Aaron shouted at her, putting his hand gently on her shoulder to keep her from moving further.

"My dad!" She shouted this time.

She didn't let Aaron stop her from trying to stand. Her eyes watered with pain as she again tried to get up. Then she felt an arm around her and looked to see Aaron helping her up.

When they were finally standing, Emily was panting. She was leaning heavily against Aaron, she couldn't put her right leg on the ground without the pain becoming too unbearable. Even now, she had to grit her teeth and think about what her dad had done to keep her moving.

Aaron himself limped as the two of them moved awkwardly and unevenly out into the hall. They met Spencer who was just standing up and wiping his face with his dirty hands. He gave them one look, glanced down at Emily's leg, and went to her other side. With Spencer and Aaron on either side helping support her, Emily was able to take a breath.

"Elevator?" Aaron shouted.

"No," Reid shook his head, "it might not be safe."

They stood at the top of the stairs. All three of them staring at the four flights down. They were in the process of maneuvering down a step when they saw a group of people running up.

Emily immediately recognized the man in front as Agent Rossi.

He ran up to them and his lips were moving but they couldn't hear him.

"What?" Aaron shouted.

"I said, 'What the hell do you think you're doing?'" he shouted back. He turned to the men behind him, "we need three stretchers up here, now!"

Emily moved forward and almost fell, but Aaron firmly grabbed her waist.

"My dad!" She shouted at Rossi, "He, he's the one who did this! We need to find him!"

Rossi looked at them. Then he shouted, "we got him."

Emily froze. Her eyes were locked on Agent Rossi. His mouth was moving, but she couldn't hear anything after 'we got him'. They had him, her dad. He wasn't out there anymore. Suddenly her one good leg went weak and she sunk to the steps.

She could feel Aaron's body next to her, when she turned she saw his lips moving, but Emily wasn't listening. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against her shoulder. It was all over.

She wasn't sure how long they sat on that step, but then the paramedics reached them. Spencer and Aaron both insisted that they could walk down the steps themselves, but with Emily's leg injured, she could do nothing but let herself be helped onto the hard board.

She kept her eyes locked on Aaron as he limped down the stairs beside them. When they reached the ground floor he took her hand in his. They were both dirty and smeared with blood.


	32. Chapter 32

**Here is the final installment of Roots. Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, and followed. It means so much to me. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think of the story and the ending! And be sure to keep your eyes out for another story, I currently have one in the works. **

Between the six of them there were two concussions, three broken ribs, a broken leg, and too many bruises and cuts to count. And there was the panic attack Penelope had when she got to the hospital.

But none of them were thinking about that when they sat circled in Emily's hospital room.

They had already given their statements to the FBI. Recounted every detail they could remember from the past few weeks. For the first time they told someone outside of the group of six about the letters and the threats.

It had been three days since the explosion. Everyone had been discharged except for Emily and Aaron and they were getting antsy. By now the dull roar in their ears had become a faint ringing.

Evan Prentiss had been arrested. When he saw he was surrounded he pressed the trigger, ignoring the negotiations for a plea bargain that were shouted at him. They had gotten to him before he was able to shoot himself.

The prosecutor had made them all repeat the stories they had given to the FBI. She spent more time with Emily than anyone else. Making her explain the kidnapping and what her dad did. Emily tried not to think about it when she recounted what had happened. She tried to ignore the hint of accusation when people asked why they hadn't called the police sooner.

No one understood except the six of them that sat in the room.

And that was why they were able to sit so comfortably together after everything that had happened. They didn't talk about what had happened, they didn't talk about much at all. They didn't need to.

A knock came from the doorway and they all looked up. Agent Rossi stood there, "is it alright if I come in?"

Emily nodded and the agent entered the room.

He looked at the six of them and couldn't help but smile. "I hope I'm not interrupting."

"Not at all," Aaron said from the chair next to Emily's bed. "Did you need to ask us anything?"

Rossi laughed, "I think you've all been asked enough questions. I came here to tell you a few things. First, don't listen to what the other agents have been saying; you did what you had to do, and you did it pretty damn well."

"Excuse me?" Aaron looked up.

"I've come to learn that taking the right channels and following procedure doesn't always get you where you need to be. And you were right, had you called me two weeks ago with your accusation, I probably wouldn't have believed you." He looked each of them in the eye.

Morgan was absently rubbing his thumb against Reid's hand. Garcia was sharing Emily's bed with her, and they were both sitting up staring at him. Aaron sat near the entrance in a chair, as if blocking the others. And JJ sat on the ground, her back against the wall.

"And second, the FBI needs more people like you. Go to college and give me a call in a few years." He took out a business card and handed it to Aaron. "But until then, try to stay out of trouble."

As Rossi walked down the hall out of the hospital he could still see their stunned faces. He laughed and shook his head. He'd be disappointed if he never got that call.

XXX

They looked around at each other.

"You better not lose that business card, man." Derek grinned at Aaron.

"Don't worry," Aaron tucked it in his wallet, "I'll have it whenever any of you need it."

"So you think he was serious?" JJ asked from the ground.

"We did catch a serial killer," Garcia said.

"And we made sure no one got hurt from that bomb," Spencer added.

"If he wasn't serious, than he should have been," Emily smiled.

"I'm not sure what you're all doing once senior year ends," Hotch started, "but I have a feeling that we won't be apart for too long."

XXX

Aaron was glad he and Emily had finally been discharged from the hospital. It felt like ages since they had just had a normal day, not worrying about a killer or an explosion. He was sitting on a couch in Emily's basement, and she was tucked up next to him.

"You know, I never really asked you what your plans were after high school," Aaron said thoughtfully.

"You first."

"I want to go to law school."

"I didn't know that," Emily looked up at him. His face was serious as he thought.

"I just thought of it, but it feels right. Maybe I'll join the FBI later, I'm not sure. But now it's your turn."

Emily smiled, she brought her hand up to his jaw bone, "I've got my own government plans."

He opened his mouth to ask her a question, but she stopped him.

"We don't need to worry so much about the future right now. We may be going different places and doing different things, but I love you Aaron Hotchner and nothing will stop that." She paused for a moment, "Even if you become a lawyer."

He smiled when he looked into her eyes. Those dark eyes that mesmerized him every time he looked in them. "So you want to do this? Keep dating even when we're far away?"

"Like you said, Aaron; I have a feeling we'll end up in the same place soon enough. And until then, we'll make it work."

Aaron brought his lips against hers, he could still feel the pressure of her warm hand against his face. He didn't want to spend one day without her, but he knew they both had dreams they had pursue. And he didn't doubt for a minute that what Emily had said was true.

For her he could wait.

XXX

JJ was sitting at her kitchen counter, eating a bowl of stale cereal. Her house was dark and empty. She didn't understand how she was feeling. We was supposed to be relieved, happy that Evan Prentiss was caught. Of course she was glad, they weren't in danger anymore, nobody had gotten hurt.

But then why did she feel so sad?

She rested her chin on her palm and stared at the time illuminated from the microwave. They had to go back to school tomorrow, JJ couldn't even remember the last time she sat in a class room. She wasn't looking forward to the questions from everyone else. She wasn't ready to face them alone.

JJ was stirring her spoon in her bowl of milk when the doorbell rang. She ignored it, but moments later it rang again, three times in fast succession.

With a splash JJ dropped the spoon in the bowl and stood up. She walked down the hallway and opened the door.

"Go grab an overnight bag and your stuff for school tomorrow!" Penelope burst out the second the door was opened.

"What?" JJ asked dumbfounded.

"Did you really think I was going to let you spend tonight alone?" Garcia asked as if the answer was obvious.

JJ faltered, but Garcia forced her back as she stepped into the house.

"I'll just wait here, you go get your stuff." She gave JJ a nudge toward the stairs.

"Uh, okay." JJ turned and ran up the stairs. She returned a few minutes later with her backpack and a small duffel bag.

"What are we doing?" JJ asked when she was sitting in Garcia's car.

"Well, first we have to pick up snacks, and then we're going over to Em's. Aaron should have left by now, so we're having our first official girls night!" Garcia spoke fast with excitement, "And this one won't involve any serial killers."

JJ just leaned back in her seat and tried to take it all in.

"I figured we needed to do something fun after everything that has happened, and with us starting school tomorrow and everything."

"That sounds great Pen, it really does."

Suddenly that emptiness that JJ had been feeling was gone. She looked over and Garcia who was watching the road. And then she smiled.

XXX

Derek sat on a hard chair in the lobby of the hospital. After spending two days in the hospital being treated for the concussion and broken ribs he had gotten during the beating by the football players and the explosion, all he wanted to do was get out. He wanted to run as far as he could from the place.

But he was there for Spencer, so he could wait. Derek pulled out a book from his bag. It was a Kurt Vonnegut book Emily had given to him the day prior. He was just starting the third chapter when Spencer walked back into the lobby.

Derek took one look at his face, dropped his book back into his bag, and stood up. Morgan opened his mouth to speak but Reid stopped him.

"I need to get out of here," Spencer said, looking at the ground.

Derek nodded, tucking Spencer's smaller hand in his. They walked out the front door together and the sun nearly blinded them.

"Where to?" Derek asked.

"Can we just walk for a bit?"

Derek led them down the path that led through the hospital grounds. Other people were out on the nice day. The path was filled with people walking alone, couples, and others being pushed in wheelchairs.

After walking in silence Spencer spoke while looking away, "my birthday was last week."

Derek almost stopped walking, he had forgotten, hadn't so much as wished him a happy birthday. "I'm so sorry I forgot Spencer."

Reid shook his head, "It doesn't matter, there were more important things happening."

Derek didn't know what to say. He looked over at Spencer, but Reid kept looking away. He wanted to pull him close, make him stop hurting, but he also didn't want to push him.

"I turned 18," Spencer nearly whispered.

They stopped walking and Derek turned to face him. He didn't understand the significance, why muttering those words appeared so hard for him.

"She wanted to go home," the words were barely audible, "she begged me to bring her home."

Derek finally got it. He took a step toward Spencer and looked him in the eyes. "Don't you do that. Your mom needs help, this will be good for her."

Spencer looked up, his eyes wet, "what kind of son leaves his mom?"

"The kind who knows what is best. I know this is hard for both of you, but you are getting your mom the help she needs. You're the smartest person I know Spencer, I don't doubt you."

There was a moment of silence. "Did you know that schizophrenia is genetic?"

Derek reached up his hand and rested the tips of his fingers on Spencers jaw, "well then it's a good thing you've got me, isn't it?"

"You can walk away," Spencer looked back at the ground, "we're both going to college in a few months, if you walk away now I won't blame you."

Derek used his hand to raise Spencer's face until he was looking at him, "don't make me take back what I said about you being the smartest person I know. I may not know everything, I may not be able to read 20,000 words a minute, and I may not have an eidetic memory, but I know that I love you. I let you down once, and I will never do it again. If you don't want to stay with me, that's one thing, but I am in this for the long haul."

A tear slipped down Spencer's face as Derek spoke. "I love you too."

"Then come on Pretty boy, lets go start planning out all those doctorates you're going to get."

Spencer let a small smile escape as Derek put his arm around his waist and pulled him close. He had never felt so safe in his life, so secure.

XXX

And one by one, as the years passed and they grew older, Aaron began to receive phone calls. Each time they asked the same question and he took out his wallet where he still kept the business card. And when it was finally Aaron's turn to make the call, he walked into his office, surrounded by a team of his friends.

_Six teenagers walked into the woods._

_And out of the woods they found their friends, their future, and themselves. _


End file.
